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QP45  .G29  A  vindication  olviv 


RECAF 

A  VINDICATION  OF 
VIVISECTION 


A  COURSE  OF  LECTURES  ON  ANIMAL 
EXPERIMENTATION 

BY  MEN  OF  THE  HIGHEST  AUTHORITY'  IN  T.m  MEDICAL 
AND  OTHER  PROFESSIONS 

GIVEN  UNDER  THE  AUSPICES  OF  THE  GEORGETOWN  UNIVERSITY 

SCHOOL  OF  MEDICINE  IN  GASTON  HALL  OF  GEORGETOWN 

UNIVERSITY.  MARCH  28  TO  MAY  16.  1920 

FRANCIS  A.  TONDORF.  S.  J.,  PH.  D. 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 
1920 


Columbia  ^nitjersittp 
intI)fCttpoflrttil|ork 

CoOcsc  of  ^ijpgitianji  anb  g>uraeona; 

Eifararp 


A  VINDICATION  OF 

VIVISECTION 


A  COURSE  OF   LECTURES  ON  ANIMAL 
EXPERIMENTATION 


BY  MEN  OF  THE  HIGHEST  AUTHORITY  IN  THE   MEDICAL 
AND  OTHER  PROFESSIONS 


GIVEN  UNDER  THE  AUSPICES  OF  THE  GEORGETOWN  UNIVERSITY 

SCHOt^L  OF  MEDICINE  IN  GASTON  HALL  OF  GEORGETOWN 

UNIVERSITY.  MARCH  28  TO  MAY  16,   1920 


FRANCIS  A.  TONDORF,  S.  J.,  PH.  D. 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 
1920 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arcliive 

in  2010  witli  funding  from 

Open  Knowledge  Commons  (for  the  Medical  Heritage  Library  project) 


htijS^www.archive.org/details/vindicationofvivOOgeor 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


A  VINDICATION  OF  VIVISECTION. 

PREFACE 4 

LECTURE  I.— "A  VINDICATION  OF  ANIMAL  EXPERIMEN- 
TATION." Based  upon  the  work  of  the  Rockefeller  Institute  for 
Medical  Research  in  New  York  Citj'.  Bv  Simon  Flexner,  Director, 
M.  D.,  So.  D.,  LL.  D ' 5-17 

LECTURE  II.— THE  LEGAL  ASPECTS  OF  VIVISECTION.  By 
William  Creighton  WooDW.^RD,  M.  D.,  LL.  M.  Health  Commis- 
sioner of'Boston,  Mass.,  Professor  of  Medical  Jurisprudence  George- 
town  University   18-25 

LECTURE  III.— SOME  OF  THE  ETHICAL  ASPECTS  OF  ANI- 
MAL EXPERIMENTATION.  By  Wm.  H.  Arthur,  M.  D.,  F.  A. 
C.  S.     Late  Commandant  Army  Medical  School 36-31 

LECTURE  IV.— WHAT  ANIMAL  EXPERIMENTATION  HAS 
DONE  FOR  GYNECOLOGY  AND  ABDOMINAL  SURGERY. 
By  Thomas  S.  Cullen,  M.  D.  Professor  of  Clinical  Gynecology, 
Johns   Hopkins   Hospital 31-40 

LECTURE  v.— ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  ANIMAL  EXPERIMENTA- 
TION IN  GENERAL  SURGERY.  By  Geor-e  Tully  Vaughan, 
M.  D.,  LL.  D.,  F.  A.  S.  Professor  of  Surgery  Georgetown 
University  40-47 

LECTURE  VI— ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  MEDICAL  CORPS  OF 
THE  ARMY  IN  PREVENTIVE  MEDICINE.  By  George  B. 
Foster.  Jr.,  M.  D.,  Dr.  P.  H.  Major  Medical  Corps,  United 
S  tates  Army  47-58 

LECTURE  VII.— THE  LABORATORY  WORK  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES  PUBLIC  HEALTH  SERVICE.  By  A.  M.  Stimson, 
Surgeon  U.  S.  P.  H.  S.  Assistant  Director,  Hygienic  Laboratory, 
Washington,  D.  C £8-64 

LECTURE  VIII— THE  ECONOMIC  ADVANTAGES  DERIVED 
FROM  ANIMAL  EXPERIMENTATION.  By  Ernest  Ch.\rles 
ScHROEDER,  Ml  D.,  D.  V.  M.  Superintendent  Experiment  Station 
L'nited   Spates   Bureau  of  Animal   Industry,   Bethesda,   Md 61^79 

LECTURE  IX.— THE  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  DENTAL  MEDICINE 
AND  ORAL  HYGIENE.  By  Ralph  A.  Hamilton.  M.  D.  Prof- 
essor of  Bacteriology  and  Pathology  Georgetown  University  Medi- 
cal School 79-84 

CONCLUDING  REMARKS  TO  THE  COURSE  OF  LECTURES 
ON  VIVISECTION.  By  George  M.  Kober,  M.  D.,  LL.  D.  Dean 
of  the  Georgetown  University  School  of  Medicine _ 84-86 

MORAL  ASPECTS  OF  VIVISECTION.  A  Digest  of  the  Statement 
of  Rev.  Francis  A.  Tondoef,  S.  J.,  Ph.  D.  Professor  of  Physiology, 
Georgetown  University  School  of  Medicine,  before  the  Subcommittee 
of  the  Commmittee  on  the  Judiciary  of  the  United  States  Senate  on 
November  4,  1919  '.. 87-88 

GENERAL  STATEMENT  IN  PROTEST  AGAINST  THE  ENACT- 
MENT OF  S.  1258 ;  a  Bill  to  Prohibit  Experiments  upon  Living 
Dogs  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  before  the  same  Committee.  By 
George  M.  Kober,  M.  D.,  LL.  D 88-93 

A  PLEA  FOR  SANITY  IN  LEGISLATION  ON  ANIMAL  EXPERI- 
MENTATION (With  special  reference  to  the  Dog).  By  Murray 
Galt  Motter,  M.  D.  Formerly  Professor  of  Physiology  George- 
town University  Medical  Scliool  _  94-97 


PREFACE. 

To  see  life  steadily  and  to  see  it  whole  is  the  serious  duty  of  every 
true  philosopher.  And,  after  all,  what  is  philosophy  save  unadulterated 
common  sense  amplified  and  systematized.  Elence  your  real  sensible 
man  will  approach  the  subject  of  animal  experimentation  dispassion- 
ately and  weigh  it  in  its  proper  relation  to  the  good  of  the  human  race. 
Let  him  disregard  these  prime  postulates  of  sound  reason  and  he  is 
headed  straight  for  unbalanced  sentimentality  and  irrational  hysteria. 

The  stereotyped  arguments  advanced  against  the  practice  of  animal 
experimentation  are  two,  to  wit,  brutality  and  total  lack  of  demonstrable 
and  tangible  results  as  might  warrant  the  physical  pain  occasioned 
following  the  most  clever  scientifically  regulated  methods  of  vivisection. 
It  is  the  modest  purpose  of  this  brochure  to  make  available  for  the 
general  public  a  discussion  of  such  accusations  and  the  pertinent 
responses  made  by  experienced  research  workers  in  a  series  of  public 
lectures  given  under  the  auspices  of  the  Georgetown  University. School 
of  Medicine  in  Gaston  Hall  of  the  Georgetown  University  from  March 
28  to  May  IGth  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  twenty. 

To  profit  by  the  content  of  these  pages  the  reader  must  divest 
himself  of  every  prejudice  or  partisanship  and  focus  his  attention  not 
on  feeling  but  on  the  issue.  He  must  recall  that  our  cynophile  friends 
are  persistently  dogmatizing  that  this  is  a  moral  question  and  then 
evaluate  our  ethical  arguments  against  theirs.  He  must  learn  that 
their  perverted  commentary  of  the  text  which  tells  of  the  findings  of 
medical  researches  envolving  animal  experimentation  belies  the  original. 
He  must  read  into  this  text  the  salus  popuh,  the  lex  suprema.  Then 
may  we  look  for  a  fair  judgment. 

Francis  A.  ToNnoRF,  S.  J.,  Ph.  D.,  Editor, 

Head  of  the  Dcpartuient  of  Physiology. 

Georgetozvii  University  School  of  Medicine. 

June  30th,  1920. 


A  VINDICATION  OF  ANIMAL  EXPERIMENTATION. 

Based  u[<on  the  work  of  tlic  Rockefeller  Institute  for  Medical  Research 
ill  Nezv  York. 

By 

Simon  Flexner,  Director,  jNI.  D.,  Sc.  D.,  LL.  D. 

Note  of  the  Editor. — The  favor  and  enthusiasm  with  which  the  lectures  of 
this  symposium  were  generally  received  by  our  audiences  have  prompted  us  to 
extend  them  to  a  larger  public.  The  introductory  dissertation  by  Dr.  Simon 
Flexner,  head  of  the  Rockefeller  Institute  for  Medical  Research  of  New  York 
City,  was  not  delivered  from  manuscript,  and,  unfortunately,  no  complete  steno- 
graphic report  was  made.  The  Doctor  left  unexpectedly  for  Europe  as  American 
delegate  to  the  International  Convention  of  the  Red  Cross,  and  so  even  his 
notes  were  not  available.  This  digest  was  assembled  from  notes  as  jotted  down 
for  their  own  use  by  University  students  in  attendance  upon  the  lecture,  sup- 
plemented by  references  to  Dr.  Flexner's  publications,  and  it  is  hoped  repre- 
sents the  more  noteworthy  items.  It  is  offered  with  every  apology  to  Dr. 
Flexner. 

The  Lecturer  after  thanking  the  Rector  of  the  University  for  his 
complimentary  reference  to  the  work  in  Preventive  Medicine  of  the 
Rockefeller  Institute  for  Medical  Research,  expressed  satisfaction 
that  the  creation  of  an  institution  for  the  study  of  medical  problems 
by  a  great  and  liberal  philanthropist  had  placed  him  with  his  co-workers 
in  a  favorable  position  to  accomplish  something  for  the  benefit  of 
mankind. 

The  lecturer  traced  the  development  of  medical  science  from  its 
earliest  inception,  giving  an  account  of  the  methods  used  by  medical 
men  to  gain  knowledge  of  diseases  and  graphically  described  the  tran- 
sition from  an  empirical  to  a  rational  basis.  The  result  depending 
principally  on  our  present-day  knowledge  of  physics,  biology  and 
chemistry.  He  declared  that  at  the  present  time  the  tnedical  profession 
is  better  equipped  to  discharge  its  duties  to  mankind  than  ever  before, 
a  condition  largely  to  be  accredited  to  improved  methods  of  attacking 
medical  probleiiis.  The  major  portion  of  advances  in  scientific  medi- 
cine having  been  accomplished  within  the  past  fift}'  years. 

Dr.  Flexner  explained  why  the  public  should  be  informed  as  to  the 
work  and  methods  of  scientific  men  in  the  medical  profession,  and 
explained  the  reasons  for  using  animals  to  study  disease.  He  con^ 
trasted  the  methods  of  clinical  observation  at  the  bedside  of  the  patient 
with  the  present  method  of  study  by  isolation  of  the  causative  organ- 
ism, reproduction  of  the  disease  in  animals  and  study  of  it  there.  He 
told  of  the  relative  progress  of  medicine  in  the  last  fifty  years  as  com- 
pared with  all  preceding  history.  He  declared  that  man's  employment 
of  his  inalienable  right  to  use  the  material  things  of  the  world  was 
responsible  for  the  rapid  strides  in  medicine,  and  pointed  out  that  in 
the  solution  of  a  iiuml)cr  of  difficult  problems  the  scientific  medical 


<5  ■ 

investii^'ation  in  the  United  States  had  made  in/iportant  and  most 
creditable  contributions. 

Dr.  Flexner  expressed  keen  regret  that  an  effort  should  be  made 
in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  prohibit  experiments  upon 
living  dogs  in  th  District  of  Columbia  or  the  Territorial  or  insular  pos- 
sessions of  the  United  States  as  contemplated  by  S.  1258,  which  bill,, 
if  enacted  into  a  law,  would  be  a  serious  blow  to  the  progress  of  scien- 
tific medicine,  as  much  of  our  physiological  knowledge  and  the  action 
of  drugs  is  based  upon  experiments  on  dogs,  and  for  some  experiments 
no  other  animals  can  be  substituted. 

Dr.  Flexner  deprecated  every  effort  to  restrict  this  line  of  re- 
search work,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  any  reputable  investigator  takes 
special  pains  to  prevent  unnecessary  suffering  by  the  administration  of 
anesthetics  or  opiates,  and  the  prevention  of  cruelty  in  animals  is 
especially  well  safeguarded  by  laws  now  in  force  in  the  District  of 
Columbia.  He  referred  to  diabetes,  a  disease  of  considerable  fre- 
quency, as  illustrating  the  value  of  experiments  on  dogs  in  promoting 
knowledge  of  this  important  disease  of  man,  and  also  in  contributing 
to  its  better  therapeutic  control  or  treatment. 

He  stated  until  the  crucial  experiments  by  two  German  physicians 
on  dogs  some  years  ago  the  cause  of  diabetes  was  unknown  The  Ger- 
man scientists  extirpated  the  pancreas  on  dogs  and  the  animals  so 
operated  on  developed  rapidly  fatal  diabetes.  The  practical  use  of 
this  knowledge  was  employed  by  Dr.  Allen  who  by  modifying  the 
operative  procedure  ascertained  the  manner  in  which  to  induce  grades 
of  diabetes  closely  simulating  those  of  man.  With  these  animals  he 
was  able  to  work  out  a  treatment  which  has  brightened  the  outlook  of 
the  diabetic  and  has  prolonged  the  life  of  these  individuals  enabling 
many  of  the  sufferers  to  attend  their  duties  and  vocations  over  long 
periods  of  time. 

These  experiments  so  useful  to  man  have  been  made  on  dogs,  and 
no  other  animal  suffices  for  the  purpose.  This  v>"ork  was  begun  at  the 
Harvard  Medical  School  and  completed  at  the  Rockefeller  Institute  for 
Medical  Research. 

Dr.  Flexner  stated  that  he  had  given  a  single  concrete  instance, 
but  the  instances  could  easily  be  multiplied,  through  which  the  benefi- 
cent use  of  the  results  of  experiments  on  animals  could  be  shown. 
He  declared  that  by  animal  experimentation  we  have  not  only  benefited 
man,  but  investigation  into  the  disease  of  animals  has  led  to  the  eradi- 
cation of  many  of  the  diseases  of  animals  with  incalculable  economic 
returns.  Our  knowledge  of  yellow  fever  would  probably  have  been 
delayed  for  many  years  if  the  work  of  the  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry 
of  the  United  States  on  Texas  fever  had  not  been  done. 

The  Lecturer  emphasized  the  important  work  done  by  the  Federal 
Government  for  animal  industry,  all  of  which  involved  animal  experi- 
mentation, and  called  attention  to  the  Department  of  Animal  Pathology 


of  the  Rockefeller  Institute,  established  a  few  years  ago  on  a  farm  of 
400  or  500  acres,  near  Princeton,  N.  J.,  with  laboratories,  stables  and 
other  appurtenances,  and  a  highly  skilled  scientific  staff  installed  for 
the  intensive  study  of  diseases  of  animals  themselves.  Could  the  eco- 
nomic wastage  caused  by  disorders  of  cattle,  poultry,  etc.,  be  con- 
trolled or  reduced,  the  cost  of  living,  now  such  a  matter  of  serious  con- 
cern, would  be  materially  diminished.  In  addition  to  diseases  of  eco- 
nomic animals  we  have,  he  said,  a  real  interest  in  diseases  of  domestic 
animal  pets,  which  are  themselves  the  victims  of  many  severe  and  fatal 
diseases,  such  as  distemper  among  dogs.  The  study  of  this  disease 
by  the  experimental  method  is  not  only  indicated,  but  it  is  fair  to  say 
that  if  we  learn  to  control  distemper,  we  should  throw  new  light  on 
the  pneumonia  problem ;  and  he  was  tempted  to  add  that  had  the 
lower  animals  the  power  of  voice,  they  might  well  ask  to  be  saved  from 
those  who  appear  to  be  their  friends. 

Contrasting  the  ancient  use  of  drugs  with  the  manner  in  which 
they  are  employed  at  the  present  time  he  showed  how  their  specific 
action  has  been  determined  by  the  employment  of  animals  for  experi- 
mental study. 

Beginning  with  a  tribute  to  the  pioneer  work  of  Pasteur,  Koch 
and  other  pioneer-research  workers,  the  lecturer  traced  the  various 
steps  in  the  development  of  the  great  branch  of  bacteriology  that  em- 
braces all  that  we  know  of  the  cause,  the  prevention  and  treatment  of 
all  infectious  diseases,  including  serums  and  vaccines,  and  ends  at  the 
present  time  with  the  researches  by  Noguchi  on  the  organism  of  yellow 
fever  As  an  instance  of  the  curative  powers  of  antitoxins  he  cited 
the  vast  reduction  in  mortality  following  the  employment  of  diphtheria 
antitoxin,  which  is  now  less  than  one  quarter  of  the  death  rate  before 
the  introduction  of  the  antitoxin. 


Cerebro-Spinal  Meningitis. 


Dr.  Flexner  said  he  had  been  asked  to  say  a  few  words  about  the 
benefits  of  animal  experimentation  in  relation  to  epidemic  cerebro- 
spinal meningitis.  This  disease,  also  known  as  cerebro-spinal  fever  and 
spotted  fever,  was  described  as  early  as  1805  and  has  appeared  in  epi- 
demic form  at  various  intervals  in  Europe,  in  the  United  States  and 
other  parts  of  the  globe.  Hirsch  distributes  the  epidemic  occurrence 
of  this  disease  through  four  periods,  namely,  1805-1830,  1807-1850, 
1854-1875,  1876  to  date.  In  the  first  period  it  appeared  in  isolated 
epidemics  in  Europe  and  to  a  much  greater  extent  in  the  United  States. 
After  its  primary  appearance  in  Massachusetts  in  1806,  according  to 
some  epidemologists,  it  continued  throughout  New  England  in  various 
localities  for  the  next  ten  years.     During  the  second  period  widespread 


epidemics  occurred  in  France,  Italy,  Algeria,  Denmark  and  the  United 
States ;  during  the  third  period  it  prevailed  in  Europe,  Asia,  Africa, 
South  America  and  the  United  States.  During  the  last  period  it  has 
been  specially  marked  in  Germany,  Italy  and  the  United  States.  The 
disease  prevailed  in  an  epidemic  form  in  1904  and  continued  to  be 
more  or  less  active  until  1910;  since  then,  although  less  active,  it  has 
not  entirely  disappeared  and  became  again  active  during  the  recent. war. 

The  organism  causing  this  disease,  thanks  to  animal  experimenta- 
tion, had  been  isolated  and  described  by  Weischselbaum  in  1887  under 
the  name  of  diplococcus  intracellitlaris  meningitidis,  and  although  per- 
fectly familiar  with  the  cause  and  nature  of  the  disease,  the  medical 
profession  was  helpless  in  the  way  of  treating  this  acute  infectious  dis- 
ease quite  fatal  in- its  tendency. 

Dr.  Flexner  in  1904-  during  the  epidemic  along  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board and  from  there  inland,  studied  the  disease  at  the  Rockefeller 
Institute  and  proved  by  inoculation  experiments  that  it  was  communi- 
cable to  animals.  This  was  an  enormous  step  forward,  for  it  gave 
him  a  basis  for  the  hope  of  being  able  to  treat  the  disease  successfully 
by  means  of  immunized  serum.  The  work  was  done  on  monkeys,  and 
subsequent  experimentation  proved  that  not  only  could  the  disease  be 
re]:)rbduced  in  these  animals,  but  also  successfully  treated  with  immune 
serum.  Later  this  treatment  was  and  is  now  being  used  in  the  treat- 
ment of  cerebro-spinal  meningitis  in  man.  Dr.  Flexner  said  that  25 
monkeys  had  been  used  in  this  work.  (It  has  been  estimated  by 
Professor  Welsh  and  other  competent  critics  that  before  this  method 
of  serum  treatment  was  employed,  out  of  every  one  hundred  patients 
seventy-five  died,  while  under  the  serum  treatment  the  mortality  has 
been  reduced  from  seventy-five  to  twenty-five  per  cent.  It  is  not  gen- 
erally known  that  this  demonstration  based  upon  animal  experimenta- 
tion is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  important  contributions  ever  made 
to  scientific  medicine  and  has  secured  for  Dr.  Flexner,  the  Rockefeller 
Institute  and  American  medicine  a  place  of  honor  in  the  medical  world. 
— Editor.) 

Poliomyelitis. 

Dr.  Flexner  recalled  the  work  of  the  Rockefeller  Institute  with 
reference  to  the  etiology  and  pathology  of  poliomyelitis,  popularly 
known  as  infantile  paralysis,  and  explained  how  they  had  been  able  to 
transmit  the  disease  from  monkey  to  monkey  through  the  secretions  of 
the  nasal-pharyngeal  mucous  membrane  and  thus  secured  important 
information  as  to  the  mode  of  transmitting  the  disease  He  said  in 
part :  In  the  United  States  we  are  becoming  increasingly  familiar  with 
epidemics  of  poliomyelitis.  Prior  to  1907  infantile  paralysis  was  a 
rare  disease  in  this  country ;  since  then  it  has  prevailed  fitfully  every 


summer  and  autumn,  and  in  one  notable  instance  at  least  also  in  the 
winter  season,  claiming  victims  by  the  score  or  hundred,  until  in  1916 
an  outbreak  of  unprecedented  severity,  with  its  center  of  violence  in 
New  York  State,  swept  over  a  considerable  number  of  States.  Our 
knowledge  of  poliomyelitis  has  grown  since  Wickman's  epochal  clinical 
studies  published  in  1907.  Thanks  to  animal  experimentation  we  are 
in  possession  of  precise  information  covering  essential  data  with  regard 
to  the  nature  of  the  inciting  microorganism,  notwithstanding  its  very 
minute  size,  and  also  concerning  the  manner  in  which  it  leaves  the 
infected  or  contaminated  body  within  the  secretions  of  the  nasopharynx 
chiefly,  and  gains  access  to  another  human  being  by  means  of  the  corre- 
sponding mucous  membranes  and  apparently  in  no  other  way.  More- 
over, the  inciting  virus,  so  called,  up  to  the  present  time  and  notwith- 
standing many  and  assiduous  efforts,  has  not  been  detected  apart  from 
the  infected  or  merely  contaminated  human  being,  and  there  is  there- 
fore no  foundation  in  ascertained  fact  for  an  assumption  that  the 
virus  is  conveyed  to  persons  otherwise  than  by  other  persons  who 
harbor  it. 


Control  of  Yellow  Fever  Epidemics. 

As  an  example  of  the  manner  in  which  an  epidemic  disease  may 
be  eradicated  he  briefly  related  the  history  of  the  conquest  of  yellow 
fever  and  expressed  his  satisfaction  that  the  causal  organism  had  been 
discovered  before  the  complete  disappearance  of  the  scourge.  If  so,  it 
will  be  the  first  disease  to  so  disappear  since  recorded  history. 

We  no  longer  fear  yellow  fever  in  New  York,  Philadelphia  and 
other  Northern  districts  of  the  United  States  in  which  formerly  it 
was  a  serious  pest,  claiming  victims  by  the  thousands.  We  are  now 
sufficiently  informed  of  the  conditions  of  its  origin  and  spread  to  main- 
tain effective  safeguards.  The  everthreatening  hotbeds  of  yellow 
fever  at  Havana  and  in  Brazil  are  now  under  control,  and  can  be 
kept  so  if  We  do  not  relax  our  vigilance. 

Prior  to  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  yellow  fever  was  a 
peril  because  no  one  knew  the  exact  conditions  favoring  its  spread. 
In  1900  a  commission  of  officers  from  the  United  States  Army,  headed 
by  Dr.  Walter  Reed,  with  Drs.  James  Carroll,  Jesse  W.  Lazear  and 
Aristides'  Agramonte  went  to  Havana  where  the  fever  flourished,  and 
made  a  series  of  studies  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  there  must 
be  a  living  organism  in  the  blood  of  yellow-fever  patients  in  the  early 
days  of  the  disease.  They  found  that  a  mosquito  could  act  as  inter- 
mediary in  conveying  the  disease.  They  did  not  spare  themselves,  and 
following  the  bite  of  a  purposely  infected  mosquito,  Carroll  became 
ill  of  yellow  fever,  while  Lazear  died  after  a  short  illness.  Reed  died 
in  1902,  and  his  memory  lives  in  the  great  Walter  Reed  Hospital  at 


10 

Washington.  From  this  knowledge  of  the  mosquito  as  a  carrier  of 
yellow  fever  it  became  clear  that  the  way  to  prevent  the  spread  of  the 
disease  was  either  by  keeping  the  mosquito  from  patients  in  the  early 
stages  of  their  illness  through  proper  screening  of  windows  and  doors, 
or  by  killing  and  destroying  their  breeding  places.  All  these  measures 
were  applied  in  Havana  by  General  Gorgas.  They  have  since  been 
practiced  in  New  Orleans,  Vera  Cruz  and  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

In  the  Southern  States,  however,  while  the  old,  aimless  and  largely 
futile  struggles  against  the  disease  when  once  it  had  gained  a  foothold 
can  never  come  again,  there  is  always  the  liability  of  costly  and  increas- 
ing local  outbreaks  so  long  as  permanent  nests  of  the  disease  exist  in 
countries-  with  which  direct  social  or  economic  intercourse  is  main- 
tained. The  everthreatening  hotbeds  of  yellow  fever  at  Havana  and 
m  Brazil  are  now  in  control  and  can  be  kept  so  at  the  price  of  intelligent 
and  unremitting  vigilance.  But  here  and  there  in  Mexico  and  South 
America  and  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa  it  still  lurks  unguarded.  It  is 
the  aim  of  the  International  Health  Board  of  the  Rockefeller  Founda- 
tion to  discover  and  clean  up  the  remaining  lurking  places  for  germs 
of  this  disease,  along  the  lines  already  inaugurated  in  the  fight  against 
hookworm  and  the  eradication  of  malaria  in  different  parts  of  the  globe. 
At  the  request  about  a  year  and  a  half  ago  from  Ecuador  for  counsel 
and  assistance  in  solving  the  problems  of  yellow  fever  at  Guayaquil,  the 
Rockefeller  Foundation  and  the  Rockefeller  Institute  cheerfully  sent 
General  Gorgas  and  his  associates  of  the  International  Health  Board  to 
study  conditions  in  that  country.  The  Commission  was  accompanied 
by  Dr.  Hideyo  Noguchi,  the  accomplished  Japanese  bacteriologist,  on 
the  staff  of  the  Rockefeller  Institute  for  Medical  Research  Dr.  No- 
guchi apart  from  his  command  of  cultural  technique  and  great  patience 
was  also  well  acquainted  with  a  disease  called  infectious  jaundice, 
which  resembles  yellow  fever.  It  is  one  of  the  diseases  whose  origin 
has  only  recently  been  traced.  The  inciting  germ,  called  Leptospira, 
is  a  spiral  motile  organism,,  parasitic  in  rats  and  other  animals.  In 
insanitary  places  frequented  by  these  animals  it  may  gain  access  to  the 
bodies  of  humans  and  incite  serious  and  fatal  disease.  Noguchi  suc- 
ceeded in  inducing  in  guinea  pigs  by  transference  of  a  small  quantity 
of  the  blood  of  yellow-fever  patients,  symptoms  comparable  with  yel- 
low fever  in  the  human  race.  The  blood  of  these  experimental  ani- 
mals, when  conveyed  to  other  guinea  pigs,  produced  the  same  disease, 
and  in  this  infected  guinea  pig  blood,  a  minute  organism  resembling 
the  Leptospira  of  infectious  jaundice  was  detected.  Young  dogs  and 
monkeys  were  also  found  to  be  susceptible  to  inoculation  with  yellow 
fever  blood. 

Noguthi  also  succeeded  in  cultivating  from  the  blood  at  first  of 
his  artificially  infected  pigs  and  then  of  man  a  hving  organism  which 
he  carried  through  many  successive  generations  in  his  culture  tubes, 
and  from  which  by  inoculation  he  could  induce  the  identical  fatal  dis- 


11 

ease  in  the  guinea  pig.  Noguchi  called  this  germ  "Leptospira  icte- 
roides."  Work  is  now  being  carried  on  by  animal  experimentation 
for  the  solution  of  unsolved  problems,  including  the  perfection  of  a 
suitable  serum  for  this  disease.  It  is  hoped  this  work  will  be  entirely 
successful  and  ]5rove  a  blessing  to  mankind. 


Control  .^xn  ^Management  of  Other  Epidemic  Diseases. 

On  this  important  topic  Dr.  Flexner  reviewed  our  knowledge  of 
epidemic  diseases  and  the  practical  hygienic  measures,  based  on  this 
knowledge,  which  have  heretofore  been  applied,  or  which  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  of  events  may  be  applied  with  a  reasonable  hope  of  pre- 
venting the  spread  of  these  epidemics.  The  Lecturer  expressed  the 
hope  that  by  a  careful  review  of  what  has  been  accomplis'necl  in  the 
past  we  may  form  a  judgment  of  the  efficiency  of  such  measures  and 
arrive  possibly  at  new  points  of  view  from  which  to  launch  a  more 
decisive  attack.  ( Dr.  Flexner  is  evidently  a  stanch  advocate  of  the 
doctrine  that  disease  germs  have  their  origin  somewhere,  and  scientific 
medicine  demands  that  all  epidemics  must  be  traced  backward  to  their 
starting  point,  and  when  found  the  original  seedbeds  must  be  stamped 
out.  In  support  of  this  doctrine,  which  is  now  practically  applied  by 
the  International  Health  Board  of  the  Rockefeller  Foundation,  he 
spoke  in  part  as  follows: — Editor.) 

Regarding  epidemic  diseases  in  general  we  assume  the  introduc- 
tion from  without,  and  usually  from  a  distant  locality  of  a  special 
kind  of  organism  which  is  held  directly  responsible  for  the  epidemic 
ensuing.  In  the  case  of  influenza  wide  divergences  of  opinion  re- 
garding the  nature  of  the  inciting  microorganisms  and  the  manner  of 
infection  still  prevail.  The  reason  for  these  difTerences  are  several, 
but  the  most  important  perhaps  relates  to  the  common  observation  of 
the  manner  of  spread  or  attack  of  the  disease.  While  other  epidemics 
proceed  from  bad  to  worse,  with  at  least  progressive  increases  of  in- 
tensity, influenza  seems  to  overwhelm  communities  over  even  wide 
stretches  of  territory  as  by  a  single  stupendous  blow.  While  in  the 
one  case  the  gradually  accelerating  rate  of  speed  of  extension  may 
be  taken  to  indicate  personal  conveyance  of  the  provoking  microrgan- 
ism ;  in  the  other  case,  the  sudden  wide  onset  appears  to  be  the 
very  negation  of  personal  communication. 

Hence  the  invoking  of  mysterious  influences,  the  revival  of  th<~ 
notion  of  miasm  and  similar  agencies,  to  account  for  this  phenomenon. 
Indeed,  the  public  mind  in  general  lends  itself  readily  to  such  formless 
concepts,  for  the  reason  that  there  still  resides  in  the  mass  of  the 
people  a  large  uneradicated  residue  of  superstition  regarding  disease. 
One  does  not  need  to  look  far  or  to  dig  deep  to  uncover  the  source  of 
this  superstition.     \\'e  have  only  recently  emerged  from  a  past  in  which 


12 

knowledge  of  the  origin  of  disease  was  scant,  and  such  views  as  were 
commonly  held  and  exploited  were  mostly  fallacious.  It  is,  indeed, 
very  recently,  if  the  transformation  can  be  said  to  be  perfect  even 
now,  that  the  medical  profession  as  a  whole  has  been  completely 
emancipated.  All  this  is  very  far  from  being  a  matter  of  remote 
importance  only,  since  in  the  end  the  successful  imposition  of  sanitary 
regulations  involves  wide  cooperation,  and  until  the  majority  of  indi- 
viduals composing  a  community  is  brought  to  a  fair  level  of  under- 
standing of  and  belief  in  the  measures  proposed,  serious  and  sustained 
endeavor  to  enforce  them  is  scarcely  to  be  expected. 

Influenza. 


No  better  instance  of  a  communicable  disease  could  perhaps  be 
invoked  than  influenza  to  exorcise  the  false  idea  of  the  mysterious 
origin  of  epidemics.  To  dwell  solely  on  the  sudden  and  overwhelming 
stroke  of  the  disease  is  to  wholly  overlook  the  significant  incidents 
that  precede  the  mass  infection,  because  they  are  of  such  ordinary 
nature  and  lack  the  dramatic  quality.  Accurate  observers  noted  long 
ago  that  influenza  in  its  epidemic  form  did  not  constitute  an  exception 
to  the  common  rule  regarding  epidemic  diseases,  which  are  obviously 
associated  with  persons  and  their  migrations.  What  the  early  stu- 
dents made  out  by  tracing  the  epidemic  backward  to  its  point  of  de- 
parture more  modern  observers  have  confirmed  by  carefully  kept  rec- 
ords, often  geographically  compiled,  as  in  the  excellent  instance  of  the 
Munich  records  covering  the  epidemic  of  1889-92,  which'  can  now.  be 
supplemented  by  a  number  of  similarly  constructed  records  of  the 
epidemic  just  passed.  These  records  show  convincingly  a  period  of 
invasion  during  which  there  is  a  gradual  rise  in  the  number  of  cases 
to  culminate,  within  a  period  variously  estimated  at  from  one  to  three 
weeks,  in  a  widespread,  so-called  '"explosive"  outbreak  of  the  disease. 
It  happens  that  the  early  cases  of  influenza  tend  not  to  be  severe, 
chiefly  because  they  are  rarely  attended  by  pneumonia  and  hence  are 
frequently  mistaken,  and  the  confusion  in  diagnosis  is  resolved  only 
when  the  full  intensity  of  the  epidemic  is  realized.  In  the  meantime 
rich  opportunity  has  been  aft'orded  for  the  free  and  unrestricted  com- 
mingling of  the  sick  and  well,  of  doubtless  healthy  carriers  of  the 
inciting  agent  and  others,  until  so  high  a  degree  of  dissemination  of 
the  provoking  microorganism  has  been  secured  as  to  expose  the  entire 
susceptible  element  of  the  population,  which  happens  to  be  large,  to 
an  almost  simultaneous  response  to  the  efi^ects  of  the  infecting  microbe. 

Deductions  of  like  import  can  be  drawn  from  the  geographical 
movements  of  an  influenza  epidemic.  In  Eastern  Russia  and  Turke- 
stan influenza  spreads  with  the  pace  of  a  caravan,  in  Europe  and 
America  with  the  speed  of  an  e.xpress  train,  in  the  world  at  large  with 


13 

the  rapidity  of  an  ocean  liner ;  if  one  project  forward  the  outcome 
of  the  means  of  intercommunication  of  the  near  future,  we  may  pre- 
dict that  the  next  pandemic,  should  one  arise,  will  extend  with  the 
velocity  of  an  airship. 

It  is  desirable,  in  the  interest  of  clear  thinking,  to  carry  this  con- 
sideration of  the  characteristics  of  epidemic  influenza  a  step  farther. 
A  feature  of  the  epidemic  disease  of  particular  significance  is  the 
tendency  to  recur ;  that  is,  to  return  to  a  stricken  region  after  an  inter- 
val, usually  of  months,  of  relative  quiescence  Thus  the  beginnings 
of  the  last  pandemic  in  Western  Europe  and  the  United  States  have 
been  traced  to  sporadic  cases  appearing  in  April,  May  and  June,  pos- 
sibly even  earlier  in  certain  places,  while  the  destructive  epidemic 
raged  during  September,  October  and  November  of  1918.  The  dis- 
ease also  prevailed,  more  or  less,  in  the  United  States  during  1919  and 
again  during  the  present  year.  The  epidemic  of  1918-19  cost  more 
in  a  few  months  in  human  lives  than  were  killed  during  the  five  years 
duration  of  the  great  war.  The  statistics  from  India  alone  show 
something  like  6,000,000  deaths.  In  this  country  the  estimates  so 
far  have  varied  from  600,000  to  800,000,  and  you  can  carry  that  pro- 
portion around  the  world. 

There  are  very  good  reasons  for  believing  that  influenza  is  not  in 
itself  a  serious  disease,  but  that  its  sinister  character  is  given  by  the 
remarkable  frequency  with  which  it  is  followed  in  particular  instances 
by  a  concomitant  or  secondary  pneumonic  infection,  to  which  the 
severe  effects  and  high  mortality  are  traceable.  Now,  it  is  this  high 
incidence  of  pneumonia,  the  product  of  invasion  of  the  respiratory 
organs  with  bacteria  commonly  present  on  the  upper  respiratory  mucous 
membranes — streptococci,  pneumococci,  staphylococci,  Pfeiffer's  ba- 
cilli, and  even  meningococci — that  stamp  the  recurrent  waves  of  the 
epidemic  with  its  bad  name. 

If  we  compare  the  pneumonic  complications,  of  influenza  with 
those  that  arose  in  the  cantonments  in  1917-18,  first  as  attendants  of 
measles  and  later  as  an  independent  infection,  we  note  immediately 
that  in  both  instances  the  severe  effects  and  high  fatalities  arose,  not 
from  bacteria  brought  or  imposed  from  without,  but  from  their  repre- 
sentatives which  are  commonly  resident  upon  the  membranes  of  the 
nose  and  throat  in  health.  Whatever  we  may  have  to  learn  of  the 
microorganisms  inducing  measles,  still  undiscovered,  and  of  influenza, 
still  under  dispute,  and  their  mode  of  invasion  in  the  body,  no  one 
would  question  that  the  bacteria  inducing  pneumonia  are  personally 
1)01  ne. 

Streptococcus  Pneumonia. 

In  discussing  this  subject  the  lecturer  pointed  out  that  during  the 
winter  of  1917-18  there  occurred  in  several  localities  within  the  United 
States,  and  also,  but  in  a  less  degree,  in  France,  at  least  a  great  increase 


14 

in  the  incidence  of  a  type  of  pneumonia  which  previously  had  been  very 
infrequent.  It  appears  also  that  the  greatest  number  of  cases  and  of 
fatalities  arose  in  the  United  States  in  the  military  cantonments ;  that 
the  disease  first  prevailed,  as  already  stated,  as  a  secondary  pneumonia 
following  measles ;  but  before  long  the  severity  of  the  infection  was 
such  that  cases  of  primary  streptococcus  pneumonia  began  to  arise. 
Moreover,  at  this  juncture  the  disease  spread  from  the  military  to  the 
civil  populations.  The  nature  of  the  microorganism  inducing  this  form 
of  epidemic  pneumonia  is  indicated  in  the  name  which  the  disease  has 
come  to  bear.  The  difficulty  in  this  instance  has  not  been  in  finding 
out  the  inciting  microbe,  but,  rather,  in  differentiating  the  streptococci 
responsible  for  the  epidemic  disease  from  streptococci  possessing  the 
ordinary  pathogenic  properties,  or  even  from  those  of  saprophytic 
nature  so  commonly  present  on  the  upper  respiratory  mucous  mem- 
branes without  provoking  widespread  disease.  However,  numerous 
studies  of  the  bacteriology  of  this  epidemic  of  pneumonia,  at  distinct 
and  often  widely  remote  cantonments,  involving  much  animal  experi- 
mentation, showed  that  the  microbic  incitant  was  in  almost  every  in- 
stance streptococcus  hemolyticus.  Moreover,  because  of  the  wide  oc- 
currence of  the  epidemic  pneumonia,  this  type  of  streptococcus  could 
be  found  in  normal  throats  and  as  a  secondary  invading  microorganism 
in  the  lungs  in  cases  of  ordinary  lobar  pneumonia.  Thus  far  very 
little  progress  has  been  made  in  the  classification  of  streptococci,  which 
form  a  class  apparently  even  more  heterogeneous  than  the  pneumococci 
and  will  involve  much  arduous  experimental  laboratory  work. 

With  these  various  considerations  before  us  we  may  now  discuss  the 
question  of  the  efficiency  of  our  public-health  measure  in  diminishing 
the  incidence  of  epidemic  diseases.  It  is  evident  that  in  diseases  in 
which  the  inciting  microorganism  enters  the  body  by  way  of  the  air 
passages,  although  not  necessarily,  as  in  poliomyelitis,  directly  injuring 
those  parts,  protection  is  not  to  be  secured  by  applying  sanitary  meas- 
ures on  a  wide  scale  to  an  extraneous  and  inanimate  source  of  the 
which  the  inciting  microorganism  enters  the  body  by  way  of  the  air 
dejecta  of  typhoid  patients,  or  even  to  inferior  animal  species  such  as 
the  mosquito  or  the  rat,  which  act  as  intermediaries  in  conveying  the 
germs  of  yellow  fever  or  of  infectious  jaundice ;  but  it  is  alone  to  be 
attained  by  methods  of  personal  hygiene,  applied  on  the  Individual  scale 
of  safeguarding  one  person  from  another,  the  most  difficult  of  all 
hygienic  regulations  to  enforce. 

As  a  result  of  animal  experimentation  in  epidemic  poliomyelitis 
we  may  fairly  claim  that  we  are  in  possession  of  the  essential  facts 
which,  if  widely  applicable,  should  enable  us  to  control  the  sjDread  of 
that  disease. 

Epidemic  diseases  in  the  commonly  accepted  sdnse  have  fixed  lo- 
cations— the  so-called  epidemic  homes  of  the  diseases.  In  those  homes 
they   survive  without   usually   attracting   special   attention   often   over 


15 

long  periods  of  time.  But  from  time  to  time,  and  for  reasons  not 
entirely  clear,  these  dormant  foci  of  the  epidemics  take  on  an  un- 
wonted activity,  the  evidence  of  which  is  the  more  frequent  appear- 
ance of  cases  of  the  particular  disease  among  the  native  population, 
and  sooner  or  later  an  extension  of  the  disease  beyond  its  endemic  con- 
fines. Thu-s  there  are  excellent  reasons  for  believing  that  an  endemic 
focus  of  poliomyelitis  has  been  established  in  Northwestern  Europe 
from  which  the  recent  epidemic  waves  have  emanated. 

Similarly  there  are  excellent  reasons  for  regarding  the  endemic 
home  of  influenza  to  be  Eastern  Europe,  and  in  particular  the  border 
region  between  Russia  and  Turkestan.  Many  recorded  epidemics 
have  been  shown  more  or  less  clearly  to  emanate  from  that  area,  while 
the  epidemics  of  recent  history  have  been  traced  there  with  a  high 
degree  of  conclusiveness.  From  this  eastern  home,  at  intervals  of  two 
or  three  decades,  a  migrating  epidemic  influenza  begins,  moving  east- 
ward and  westward,  with  the  greater  velocity  in  the  latter  direction. 

Now,  since  the  combatting  of  these  two  epidemic  diseases,  when 
they  become  widely  and  severely  pandemical,  is  attended  with  such 
very  great  difficulty  and  is  of  such  dubious  success,  and  this  notwith- 
standing the  prodigious  public-health  contests  which  are  waged  against 
them  in  which  the  advantages  are  all  in  favor  of  the  invading  micro- 
organismal  hosts,  it  would  seem  as  if  an  effort  of  central  rather  than 
peripheral  control  might  be  worth  discussion.  According  to  this 
proposal,  an  effort  at  control  amounting  even  to  eventual  eradication 
of  the  diseases  in  the  regions  of  their  endemic  survival  should  be  under- 
taken, an  effort,  indeed,  not  occasional  and  intensively  spasmodic,  as 
during  the  pandemical  excursions,  but  continuous  over  relatively  long 
periods,  in  the  hope  that  the  seed  beds,  as  it  were,  of  the  diseases 
might  be  destroyed. 

That  such  an  effort  at  the  eradication  of  a  serious  epidemic  dis- 
ease may  be  carried  through  successfully  the  experience  with  yellow 
fever  abundantly  proves.  In  attacking  the  disease  the  combat  was 
not  put  off  until  its  epidemic  spread  had  begun  and  until  new  territory, 
such  as  New  Orleans,  Jacksonville,  Memphis,  etc.,  had  been  invaded ; 
but  the  attack  was  made  on  its  sources  at  Havana,  Panama,  and  now 
Guayaquil,  to  which  endemic  points  the  extension  into  new  and  neu- 
tral territory  had  been  traced.  Such  a  plan  is  now  in  process  *of 
elaboration  bv  the  Rockefeller  Institute. 


Encephalitis  Lethargica. 


Another  disease  that  demands  animal  experimentation  and  inten- 
sive study  is  lethargic  encephalitis,  apparently  only  recently  introduced 
in,  and  already  widely  distributed  through,  this  country.  It  is  highly 
desirable  that  the  main  facts  known  should  be  given  publicity ;  and  it 


16 

may  be  well  that  the  experience,  gained  with  poliomyelitis,  may  serve 
us  in  dealing  more  effectively  with  the  encephalitis  peril. 

It  appears  that  the  first  cases  of  that  disease  recognized  in  the 
United  States  occurred  in  the  winter  of  1918-19.  In  contradistinction ' 
to  epidemic  poliomyelitis,  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  this  epi- 
demic affection  of  the  central  nervous  system  ever  before  existed  in 
America.  The  point  is  an  important  one.  At  present  the  disease  seems 
to  be  widely  distributed,  as  cases  have  been  reported  from  many  States. 

It  is  possible  to  trace  the  cases  of  lethargic,  or  epidemic  encephal- 
itis, now  arising  in  this  country,  to  an  outbreak  which  occurred  in 
Vienna  and  neighboring  parts  of  Austria  in  the  winter  of  1916.  Be- 
cause of  war  conditions,  knowledge  of  this  unusual  disease  did  not  at 
once  reach  Western  Europe  and  the  United  States  ;  but  nevertheless 
cases  of  the  disease  occurred  in  England  and  France  in  the  early 
months  of  1918,  and  in  America  about  one  year  later.  Both  in  Austria 
and  in  England,  in  which  countries  the  first  cases  were  observed, 
respectively,  in  eastern  and  western  Europe  the  disease  was  first  mis- 
takenly attributed  to  food  intoxications.  In  Austria  the  early  cases 
were  ascribed  to  sausage  poisoning;  in  England  to  botulism  arising 
from  various  foods.  This  error  is  not  perhaps  as  remarkable  as  might 
at  first  appear.  In  the  first  place,  both  countries  were  laboring  under 
unprecedented  conditions  of  food  shortage,  preserved  foods  were 
employed  on  a  scale  never  before  equaled,  and,  of  course,  waste  and 
refuse  were  reduced  to  a  minimum.  Furthermore,  an  early  symptom 
of  this  encephalitis  is  third-  nerve  paralysis — giving  rise  to  diplopia, 
ptosis,  etc. — which  happens  also  to  be  an  early  symptom  in  certain 
forms  of  food  poisoning  and  notable  in  botulism.  Ultimately,  in  both 
countries  the  notion  of  food  origin  became  untenable,  and  the  disease 
was  recognized  as  arising  independently  of  diet  and  other  usual  con- 
ditions of  life,  and  come  to  be  viewed  as  probably  of  microbic  origin 
and  of  communicable  nature. 

It  is  now  sufficiently  obvious  why  the  popular  name  of  "sleeping 
sickness"  has  been  applied  to  this  malady.  The  disease  is,  of  course, 
wholly  distinct  from  African  sleeping  sickness,  which  is  a  trypanosomal 
iniection  carried  from  person  to  person  by  means  of  an  insect  vector — 
the  tsetse  fly.  When  an  apparently  new  disease  arises,  it  is  always 
important  to  iixjuire  whether  the  particular  set  of  symptoms  that  are 
taken  to  characterize  it  has  been  observed  and  recorded  before. 

In  the  present  instance  there  are  significant  records  which  may 
easily  refer  to  a  similar  and  possibly  identical  disease.  The  first  one 
dates  from  1712  and  refers  to  an  outbreak  of  so-called  sleeping  sick- 
ness centering  about  Tubingen  in  Germany.  The  second  record  dates 
from  1890  and  deals  with  a  puzzling  malady  called  nona,  which  is 
described  rather  in  the  lay  than  the  medical  literature  of  the  time  and 
seems  to  have  prevailed  in  the  territory  bounded  by  Austria,  Italy  and 
Switzerland.     In  respect  to  neither  instance,  however,  do  the  records 


17 

contain  the  minuter  data  which  would  admit  of  a  certain  identification 
of  the  disease  described  with  the  encephahc  malady  we  are  consider- 
ing. One  circumstance  is,  however,  significantly  suggestive.  The 
location  of  the  1890  afi^ection  "nona,"  which  was  characterized  by 
somnolence,  stupor  and  coma,  coincides  roughly  at  least  with  that  of 
the  first  cases  reported  in  the  present  epidemic.  The  question  may, 
therefore,  well  be  raised  whether  the  endemic  home  of  this  epidemic 
variety  of  encephalitis  may  not  be  that  corner  of  southeastern  Europe 
overlapping  the  three  countries  mentioned.  If  this  should  prove  to  be 
probable,  the  next  question  to  arise  would  relate  to  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  disease  slumbered  on  in  ordinary  times,  and  to  the 
conditions  that  favored  a  greater  activity  and  a  wider  spread  about 
the  year  1916. 

To  deal  with  the  first  one  will  require  particular  and  intensive 
studies  carried  out  with  the  especial  object  in  view  to  disclose  hidden 
cases  in  the  region  originally  affected.  An  answer  can  in  the  mean- 
time be  hazarded  to  the  second  question.  The  depressing  effects  of 
war,  acting  by  way  of  hunger,  cold,  migrations  of  populations  and 
general  insanitation,  might  initiate  the  conditions  through  which  a  low 
endemic  might  well  be  converted  into  a  higher  epidemic  incidence  of 
[he  disease. 

It  is  now  a  matter  of  great  importance  to  determine  the  precise 
nature  or  etiology  of  lethargic  encephalitis.  Many  unsuccessful  at- 
tempts have  been  made  to  communicate  the  disease  to  monkeys  and 
other  animals  through  the  inoculation  of  nervous  tissues  showing  the 
particular  lesions  in  the  manner  so  readily  and  successfully  employed 
in  monkeys  for  poliomyelitis.  This  circumstance  alone  would  serve 
to  distinguish  this  epidemic  encephalitis  from  epidemic  poliom3'elitis. 
But  in  two  or  three  instances,  what  are  stated  to  be  successful  trans- 
missions of  the  disease  to  animals  have  been  reported. 

It  is  still  too  soon  to  say  whether  or  not  we  are  now  at  the  thresh- 
old of  clearing  up,  by  way  of  animal  experimentation,  the  etiology 
and  mode  of  transmission  of  this  menacing  disease,  as  was  accom- 
plished so  recently,  and  also  by  animal  experimentation  in  the  case  of 
poliomyelitis.  But  at  this  moment,  and  while  waiting  for  the  ultimate 
and  convincing  experimental  results,  one  need  entertain  no  doubt  of 
the  infectious  and  communicable  nature  of  lethargic  encephalitis. 

In  conclusion  Dr.  Flexner  remarked  that  time  would  not  permit 
him  to  discuss  many  of  the  problems  now  awaiting  solution  or  to  refer 
to  the  work  carried  on  by  the  staff  of  the  Rockefeller  Institute  for 
Medical  Research  in  all  of  its  departments,  but  expressed  the  fervent 
liope  that  in  the  interests  of  the  human  race  and  the  animals  themselves, 
the  progress  of  scientific  medicine  would  not  be  impeded  try  imneces- 
sary  legislation. 


18 

THE  LEGAL  ASPECTS  OF  VIVISECTION. 

By  :. 

William  Creighton  Woodward,  M.  D.,  LL.  M. 

Health  Commissioner  of  Boston,  Mass. 
Professor  of  Medical  Jurisprudence  Georgetown  University. 

After  the  exposition  that  has  just  been  made  of  the  inestimable 
benefits  in  the  interest  of  human  heahh  and  happiness  that  have  been 
achieved  through  animal  experimentation,  and  that  would  have  been 
impossible  without  it,  no  one  of  you  can  fail  to  see  the  danger  inherent 
in  any. attempt  to  restrict  that  field  of  research  or  to  hamper  operations 
within  it.  Certainly  any  needless  restriction  and  hindrance  would  be 
hardly  short  of  criminal,  and  the  burden  of  showing  the  necessity  for 
any  such  restriction  or  hindrance  as  may  be  proposed  rests  clearly 
upon  the  proponents. 

In  the  absence  of  clear  evidence  of  a  wrong  to  be  righted,  no  legis- 
lation to  restrict  and  hinder  animal  experimentation  is  justifiable ;  and 
if  wrong  be  shown,  then  such  remedial  legislation  as  may  be  proposed 
should  have  some  direct  and  demonstrable  relation  to  the  end  to  be 
accomplished  and  should  go  no  further  than  is  necessary  to  accom- 
plish that  end.  Let  us  see  what  the  facts  are  with  respect  to  the  legis- 
lation now  pending  in  Congress  to  prohibit  absolutely  and  forever,  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  and  in  the  Territorial  and  insular  possessions 
of  the  United  States,  all  experiments  upon  living  dogs,  unless  the  ex- 
periment has  for  its  sole  purpose  the  healing  or  curing  of  some  physical 
ailment  of  the  very  dog  experimented  upon.o 

The  alleged  motive  of  the  proposed  legislation  is  set  forth  in  the 
preamble  of  the  bill ;  the  enactment  of  such  legislation  is,  "an  act  of 
right  and  justice  to  the  dog,"  because  "the  dog  has  made  a  wonderful 
war  record,"  and  "because  he  has  been  decorated  for  bravery,  serving 
his  country,  follov^ing  its  flag,  and  dying  for  its  cause."  But  some 
doubt  seems  to  be  thrown,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  on  the  sincerity  of  this 
preamble  by  a  statement  made  by  one  of  the  leading  proponents  of  the 
bill,  to  the  effect  that  "We  are  so  modest  that  we  are  beginning  with  the 
thin  edge  of  the  wedge.  We  want  to  save  dogs,  and  later  on  we  will 
probably  try  to  save  other  animals. "Zj     If  dogkind  is  now  to  be  honored 

a  A  bill  to  prohibit  experiments  upon  living  dogs  in  the  District 
of  Columbia  or  in  any  of  the  Territorial  or  insular  possessions  of  the 
United  States,  and  providing  a  penalty  for  violation  thereof.  S.  1258, 
66th  Congress,  1st  session. 

b  Hearing  before  the  subcommittee  of  the  Committee  on  the  Judi- 
ciary, United  States  Senate,  66th  Congress,  1st  session,  on  S.  1358, 
page  25. 


19 

in  the  manner  proposed  in  this  bill,  because  of  the  distinguished  serv- 
ices rendered  by  dogs  during  the  war,  it  is  not  quite  clear  why  similar 
honor  should  be  bestowed  upon  other  species  that  did  not  render  such 
service ;  such  a  course  would  certainly  cheapen  the  honor  bestowed 
on  the  dog!  And  if  other  species  did  render  such  distinguiihed  war 
service,  it  would  seem  as  though  they,  equally  with  the  dog,  should  be 
honored  now  in  the  pending  legislation  rather  than  ayked  to  wait  for 
their  honors.  The  horse  and  the  mule,  that  did  such  noble  v/ork  in 
transportation ;  the  carrier  pigeon,  that  did  such  remarkable  messenger 
service;  the  steer,  the  sheep,  the  hog,  the  chicken,  and  even  the  fish, 
that  gave  up  their  lives  that  the  army  and  the  people  might  live ;  maybe 
even  the  cat,  who  did  her  bit  in  the  protection  of  food  supplies  from 
rodent  depredations ;  and  most  assuredly,  the  modest  guinea  pig,  that 
endured  so  much  in  testing  and  standardization  of  medical  supplies 
— certainly  the  righteous  claims  of  all  of  these  cannot  justly  be  ignored 
and  lightly  brushed  aside  if  the  real  purpose  of  this  bill  is  to  grant  in 
perpetuity  as  a  reward  for  war  service  freedom  from  all  experimen- 
tation. 

Waving,  however,  possible  question  as  to  the  motive  of  this  bill 
and  proceeding  to  a  study  of  its  text  and  of  the  hearing  on  it,  we  fail 
to  discover  any  evidence  of  "the  wonderful  war  record"  of  the  dog 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  that  record  would  seem  from  the  pveamble 
to  form  the  very  heart  of  the  demand  that  all  dogkind  be  relieved  for 
all  time  of  its  obligation  to  repay  to  man  in  some  small  degree  the 
affection,  care,  and  effort  that  man  has  bestowed  upon  him,  and  of  the 
demand  implied  in  it,  to  transfer  to  other  species  the  burden  that  the 
dog  might  equitably  be  expected  to  share  with  ^heni,  of  submitting  to 
experimentatiun  in  the  interest  of  mankind  and  of  animals  generally. 
That  some  dogs  manifested  faithfulness  and  courage  during  the  war 
(to  the  extent  that  such  virtues  can  be  translated  from  mankind  to  the 
brute  creation),  no  one  will  deny;  but  that  all  dogs  tried  out  in  war 
service  distinguished  themselves  by  such  conduct  has  never,  so  far  as  I 
am  informed,  been  asserted,  nor  even  that  faithfulness  and  courage 
were  distinguishing  characteristics  of  most  of  them. 

And  yet  this  bill  proposes  to  doi  homage  to  all  dogs  alike ;  not 
merely  to  the  faithful,  but  also  to  the  traitor ;  not  merely  to  the  coura- 
geous, but  also  to  the  cowardly ;  not  merely  to  the  dog  that  saw  war 
service,  but  also  to  the  pampered  pet  in  the  fashionable,  steam-heated 
apartment  house  or  palace,  that  lived  on  the  fat  of  the  land,  and  occu- 
pied the  time  of  his  mistress  and  maybe  a  nurse  maid  or  two,  that  had 
better  been  devoted  to  the  welfare!  of  the  men  in  the  trenches ;  and 
that  the  honors  may  be  entirely  even,  they  extend  even  to  the  sheep- 
killing  mongrel  that  did  his  best  to  keep  down  the  meat  supply  and  the 
wool  supply  of  the  country  during  war  time.  Finally,  as  if  the  present 
generation  of  dogs  were  not  numerous  enough,  and  big  enough,  and 
strong  enough  to  carry  the  honors  that  the  proponents   of  this  bill 


•20 

would  heap  upon  the  species,  it  is  proposed  that  such  honors  be  spread 
over  generations  of  dogs  as  yet  unborn,  from  now  on  henceforth  for- 
evermore.  Certainly,  if  the  attribute  of  courage  can  rightly  be  attrib- 
uted to  dogkind,  no  self-respecting  dog  that  did  its  bit  during  the  war 
would  ask  for  his  offspring  forever  that  it  be  exempted  from  all  lia- 
bility to  one  of  the  most  important  services  it  can  render  mankind — 
and  brutekind,  too,  for  that  matter ;  for  experiments  on  dogs,  con- 
tribute to  the  well  being  not  only  of  human  beings  but  of  domestic 
animals  as  well,  including  dogs  themselves. 

Even  if  we  were  to  agree  with  the  proponents  of  the  legislation 
now  under  consideration,  that  for  the  reasons  stated  in  the  preamble 
honor  should  be  conferred  upon  dogkind,  there  would  still  lie  before  us 
a  wide  field  for  discussion  and  debate  as  to  just  what  honor  and  how 
much  honor  should  be  conferred.  Discussion  and  debate  of  this  kind 
would,  however,  take  us  so  far  afield  as  to  render  impossible  any  profit- 
able result  within  the  time  at  our  command,  and  the  proponents  of  this 
legislation,  by  naming  in  it  a  single  and  very  definite  form  of  honor 
have  virtually  limited  discussion  to  that  form.  After  the  enactment 
of  the  proposed  legislation  it  is  to  be  unlawful  in  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia or  in  any  of  the  Territorial  or  insular  possessions  of  the  United 
States  "for  any  person  to  experiment  or  operate  in  any  manner  what- 
soever, upon  any  living  dog,  for  any  purpose  other  than  the  healing  or 
curing  of  said  dog  of  physical  ailments" ;  and  the  bill  is  entitled  "A  bill 
to  prohibit  experiments  upon  living  dogs  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
or  in  any  of  the  Territorial  or  insular  possessions  of  the  United  States, 
and  providing  a  penalty  for  violation  thereof."  To  be  sure  of  our 
ground,  it  may  be  well  to  make  certain  just  what  an  "experiment"  is, 
and  the  Standard  Dictionary  is  probably  a  safe  guide  upon  this  point. 
To  experiment  is,  according  to  the  Standard  Dictionary,  to  make  an 
experiment,  test,  or  trial ;  to  submit  a  thing  or  person  to  any  process  or 
ordeal,  as  for  purpose  of  investigation  or  discovery.  And  an  experi- 
ment is  an  act  or  operation  to  discover,  test,  or  illustrate  some  truth, 
principle,  or  effect. 

Manifestly,  then,  the  enactment  of  the  proposed  legislation  would 
make  unlawful  any  test  or  trial  upon  any  living  dog  for  any  purpose 
whatsoever,  other  than  the  healing  or  curing  of  said  dog  of  some 
physical  ailment.  A  dog  without  a  physical  ailment  could  not  be  sub- 
jected to  any  experiment,  test,  or  trial,  of  any  kind.  A  dog  suffering 
from  a  physical  ailment  could  be  subjected  only  to  an  experiment,  test, 
or  trial  that  was  designed  to  remove  that  particular  ailment  from  that 
particular  dog.  Whether  the  experiment,  test,  or  trial  was  calculated 
to  add  to  the  dog's  comfort,  to  give  it  pain,  or  to  give  it  pleasure  would 
be  utterly  immaterial  for  the  purpose  of  determining  whether  the  ex- 
periment was  or  was  not  punishable  under  the  law.  Probably,  how- 
ever, we  can  for  present  purposes  ignore  the  proposed  prohibition  of 
comfort-giving  and  pleasurable  experiments,  tests,  and  trials,  which 


2\ 

maybe  the  proponents  of  this  bill  did  not  reall)-  intend  to  prohibit — 
although  it  would  have  been  much  better  for  them  to  have  expressed 
their  ideas  more  clearly  if  that  is  the  case;  and  we  can  limit  our  con- 
sideration of  the  matter  to  the  general  class  of  experiments  that  cause 
varying  amounts  of  inconvenience  and  possibly  even  some  pain  to  the 
dog  experimented  upon,  varying  from  the  prick  of  a  hypodermic  needle 
to  the  pain  that  may  be  suffered  after  recovering  from  the  anesthetic 
administered  during  some  more  or  less  serious  and  important  experi- 
ment, made  in  the  interest  of  humanity  or  of  animal  kind  generally. 
Is  there,  or  is  there  not,  need  for  any  legislation  to  prevent  the  infliction 
of  such  pain  and  inconvenience  upon  dogs  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
and  in  the  Territorial  and  insular  possessions  of  the  United  States? 

Within  the  time  at  my  command,  I  have  not  had  the  opportunity 
of  examining  the  laws  in  force  in  the  various  Territorial  and  insular 
possessions  of  the  United  States  relating  to  the  infliction  of  pain  and 
discomfort  on  animals.  If  such  laws  are  adequate  there  is  no  need 
for  further  legislation  ;  and  the  burden  of  proving  inadequacy  rests  upon 
the  proponents  of  the  legislation  now  before  us.  If  the  legislative 
bodies  of  those  several  jurisdictions  have  fallen  short  of  their  duty, 
evidence  of  that  fact  should  be  produced  before  Congress  is  asked  to 
assert  its  jurisdiction  in  the  premises.  And  I  may  add  incidentally, 
the  record  shows  no  demand  for  this  proposed  legislation  from  the 
people  of  the  Territories  and  the  insular  possessions — nor  from  the 
people  of  the  District  of  Columbia  either,  for  that  matter.  The  pres- 
sure for  its  enactment  seems  to  come  largely  from  persons  residing  in 
jurisdictions  that  cannot  be  affected  by  it,  and  in  these  jurisdictions 
they  have  not  succeeded,  and  possibly  have  not  even  tried,  in  procuring 
the  enactment  of  such  legislation  as  they  now  suggest  be  imposed  on 
communities  to  which  they  are  in  large  part  strangers. 

That  so  far  as  the  District  of  Columbia  is  concerned  there  are 
laws  for  the  punishment  of  persons  guilty  of  cruelty  to  animals  is  too 
well  known  to  need  comment.  Prosecutions  are  being  brought  con- 
tinually under  such  laws.  There  is,  however,  in  the  law,  as  in  common 
speech,  a  distinction  between  cruelty  and  the  mere  imposition  of  dis- 
comfort or  pain.  The  imposition  of  discomfort  or  pain  constitutes 
cruelty  and  is  punishable  only  when  it  is  not  inflicted  for  a  justifiable 
end.  The  determination  of  the  matter  now  before  us,  in  so  far  as 
the  adequacy  of  existing  law  in  the  District  of  Columbia  is  concerned 
hinges,  then,  on  the  question  whether  the  ends  sought  by  experimenta- 
tion on  dogs  are  justifiable  ends,  and  whether  in  connection  with  such 
experiments,  if  the  ends  sought  are  justifiable,  such  pain  as  is  inflicted 
is  or  is  not  a  necessary  element  of  the  experiment.  If,  all  things  con- 
sidered, the  ends  sought  by  such  experiments  are  justifiable,  then 
clearly  the  experiments  should  not  be  prohibited ;  and  if  pain  is  a 
necessary  element  in  such  experiments,  then  to  prohibit  pain  is  to  pro- 
hibit the  experiments.     A  brief  examination  of  the  law  in   force  in 


22 

the  District  shows  that  all  of  these  considerations  have  passed  in  care- 
ful review  before  the  legislative  authorities  of  the  District  of  Columbia 
and  that  they  have  been  wisely  acted  upon.  Public  morals  have  been, 
duly  safeguarded,  the  humane  treatment  of  animals  definitely  insisted 
upon,  the  rights  and  opportunities  of  investigators  reasonably  safe-" 
guarded,  and  extraordinary  provisions  made  for  the  enforcement  of 
the  law. 

The  law  governing  experimentation  upon  animals  in  the  District 
of  Columbia  was  enacted  by  the  Legislative  Assembly  in  1871  and  is 
set  out  at  length  in  Abert's  Statutes  in  Force  in  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia, pages  540  et  seq.a.  It  makes  it  unlawful  to  inflict  unnecessary 
cruelty  upon  any  animal  or  to  authorize  or  permit  any  unnecessary 
torture,  suffering,  or  cruelty  of  any  kind.  And  if  there  were  any 
doubt  as  to  whether  the  provisions  of  this  law  were  or  were  not  appli- 
cable to  cases  in  which  pain  might  be  inflicted  in  connection  with  ani- 
mal experimentation,  it  would  be  very  definitely  dispelled  by  the  fol- 
lowing provision : 

"Section  15.  Nothing  in  this  act  contained  shall  be  construed  to 
prohibit  or  interfere  with  any  properly  conducted  scientific  experi- 
ments or  investigations,  which  experiments  shall  be  performed  only 
under  the  authority  of  the  faculty  of  some  regularly  incorporated  medi- 
cal college,  university  or  scientific  society." 

Stated  in  other  words,  no  infliction  of  pain  is  to  be  tolerated  unless 
the  experiment  is  of  a  scientific  nature  and  properly  conducted ;  and 
in  ■  order  that  there  may  be  some  assurance  that  such  experiments  as 
are  performed  are  presumptively  of  this  character,  they  may  lawfully 
be  performed  only  under  the  authority  of  some  competent,  responsible 
organization,  which  in  effect  stands  back  of  the  experiment  either  b}' 
authorizing  the  particular  experiment  that  is  to  be  made  or  else  by 
vouching,  as  it  were,  for  the  judgment  and  qualifications  of  the  ex- 
perimentor  to  engage  generally  in  that  field  of  work. 

But  in  order  to  guard  against  the  possible  incompetence  or  care- 
lessness of  experimenters,  medical  colleges,  universities,  and  scientific 
societies  with  respect  to  this  matter,  it  is  made  the  express  duty  of  all 
police  officers  and  of  any  member  of  the  Washington  Humane  Society 
to  prosecute  all  violations  of  the  act  that  come  to  their  notice  or  knowl- 
edge. And  if  any  member  of  the  Washington  Humane  Society  be- 
lieves and  has  reasonable  cause  to  believe  that  the  laws  in  relation  to 
cruelty  to  animals  have  been  or  are  being  violated  in  any  particular 
building  or  place,  he  is  upon  oath  or  affirmation  to  that  effect,  and  due 
application,  entitled  to  a  search  warrant.  And  as  though  to  insure 
beyond  the  peradventure  of  a  doubt  that  the  provisions  of  the  law 
would  be  carried  out,  it  is  provided  that  fines  and  forfeitures  collected 
upon  or  resulting  from  the  complaint  or  information  of  any  member 
rf  the  Washington  Humane  Society  shall  inure  to  and  be  paid  over  to 
that  society. 

a  For  the  pertinent  parts  of  this  Statute  see  Appendix. 


23 

On  the  face  of  things,  the  law  as  set  forth  above  certainly  seems 
ample  to  prevent  cruelty  to  animals,  including  within  the  meaning  of 
the  word  cruelty  all  such  pain  as  may  be  inflicted  in  connection  with 
unnecessary  experimentation  and  all  such  as  may  be  needlessly  in- 
flicted in  connection  with  experimentation  thafis  in  itself  necessary  and 
proper.  Dogs  and  all  other  animals  seem  to  be  amply  protected.  And 
when  it  is  remembered  that  this  law  has  been  in  eflrect  for  almost  half 
a  century  it  seems  certain  that  if  there  has  been  any  unnecessary  inflic- 
tion of  pain  in  connection  with  experimentation  on  animals  there  must 
be  within  that  half  century  some  record  of  prosecutions  which,  if  the 
law  be  effective,  must  have  resulted  in  convictions  and  punishments 
and,  if  the  law  be  ineffective,  must  have  left  upon  the  records  of  the 
courts  of  the  District  of  Columbia  evidence  of  that  fact. 

I  had  occasion  in  the  year  1900  to  look  carefully  into  this  matter, 
the  law  having  been  then  in  force  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
and  I  was  then  unable  to  find  any  evidence  of  a  single  prosecution 
having  been  brought,  either  upon  the  initiative  of  any  private  citizen, 
or  of  any  police  officer,  or  of  any  member  of  the  Washington  Humane 
Society.  No  record  could  be  found  of  a  single  search  warrant  having 
been  applied  for  under  the  act  or  of  any  effort  ever  having  been  made 
to  institute  any  prosecutions  under  it.  It  follows,  of  course,  that  there 
was  no  record  of  any  court  ever  having  construed  this  law  as  inappli- 
cable to  cases  involving  the  infliction  of  unnecessary  cruelty  in  connec- 
tion with  animal  experimentation.  All  of  these  facts  were  made  pub- 
lic at  the  time,  and  certainly  should  have  served  to  stimulate  the  issue 
of  search  warrants  and  to  stimulate  prosecutions,  if  reasonable  suspi- 
cion or  concrete  evidence  of  violations  of  the  law  were  at  hand.  Ever 
since  this  situation  was  made  public,  the  year  1900,  I  have  been  inti- 
mately in  touch  with  thq  situation,  and  during  all  that  time  I  have 
known  of  no  effort  to  obtain  a  search  warrant  under  the  law,  of  no 
attempted  prosecution  under  it,  and,  of  course,  of  no  court  decision 
indicating  the  ineft'ectiveness  of  the  law  to  accomplish  its  manifest  pur- 
pose. It  seems  safe  to  say,  therefore,  that  there  is  in  the  District  of 
Columbia  no  experimentation  upon  dogs  or  other  animals  that  is  not 
regulated  by  existing  law,  duly  safeguarded  by  the  watchful  and  spe- 
cial authority  of  the  Washington  Humane  Society  itself. 

The  conclusion  just  set  forth  seems  too  definite  and  too  clearly  , 
supported  to  need  reinforcement.  If,  however,  reinforcement  be 
deemed  necessary,  it  may  be  found  by  reference  to  the  records  of  the 
numerous  hearings  that  have  been  held  from  time  to  time  since  1899, 
before  Congressional  committees,  in  connection  with  bills  that  have 
been  introduced  for  the  purpose  of  regulating  or  preventing  experi- 
mentation upon  animals  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  Certainly,  if  any 
such  bill  could  ever  have  found  support  in  the  least  degree  upon  evi- 
dence of  any  specific  instance  or  instances  of  cruel  experimentation 
on  animals  in  the  District,  that  evidence  would  have  been  forthcoming. 


24 

for  there  could  be  no  other  evidence  of  so  much  weight,  and  yet  I 
can  recall  no  single  instance  in  which  any  such  evidence  has  been 
adduced. 

It  might  be  argued,  however,  that  even  though  there  be  no  wrong 
to  be  righted  by  the  proposed  legislation,  yet  that  its  enactment  would 
do  no  harm  and  that  it  would  be  a  very  inexpensive  way  of  paying  a 
supposed  debt  to  all  dogkind.  At  best  it  would  be  a  paying  of  a  sup- 
posed indebtedness  to  dogkind  by  saddling  upon  other  animals  the 
service  now  rendered  by  dogs,  which  would  be  a  most  unjust  thing 
to  do,  since  many  other  species  have  rendered  to  mankind  in  the  war 
and  at  all  other  times  service  far  beyond  that  rendered  by  the  dog. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  those  who  are  best  qualified  to  speak 
with  respect  to  the  subject  will  tell  you  that  certain  experiments  in  the 
interests  of  mankind  and  of  animals  generally  cannot  be  as  well  per- 
formed upon  other  animals  as  they  can  be  upon  dogs.  Moreover,  one 
of  the  witnesses  adduced  by  the  proponents  of  the  measure  frankly 
announces  that  this  bill  is  but  the  small  end  of  the  wedge  with  which 
it  may  be  possible  to  stop  all  animal  experimentation.  Under  the  cir- 
cumstances, and  in  view  of  the  lucid  statement  made  by  the  preceding 
speaker  as  to  the  wonderful  benefits  that  have  accrued  from  animal 
experimentation,  the  passage  of  this  bill  could  never  be  condoned  on 
the  ground  that  it  was  at  least  harmless — for  it  is  not. 

The  bare  fact,  however,  that  the  enactment  of  this  bill  is  unneces- 
sary, and  even  the  fact  that  its  passage  would  work  harm,  is  not  suffi- 
cient to  prevent  the  bill  from  becoming  a  law.  There  are  persons  of 
wealth,  of  social  standing,  and  of  intellectual  standing  who  believe  in 
it  and  who  have  worked  and  will  work  actively  for  its  passage.  Sen- 
ators and  representatives  who  will  be  called  upon  to  consider  it  are  men 
busy  with  large  aflFairs  of  national  and  international  importance,  who 
have  but  little  time  for  personal  research  into  the  merits  of  measures 
such  as  this,  and  who  may  be  misled  by  the  plausible  arguments  of  the 
proponents  of  the  bill  unless  there  be  an  intelligent  and  energetic  cam- 
paign to  place  before  these  senators  and  representatives  the  facts  of  the 
situation.  It  is  in  such  a  campaign  that  Georgetown  University  is  now 
assuming  a  position  of  leadership,  and  vmder  its  banner  I  ask  all  of 
you  to  enlist  and  to 'fight  for  the  cause. 


25 

Appendix. 

Extract  from  section  one  of  an  Act  of  the  Legislative  Assembly 
OF  the  District  of  Columbia,  entitled: 

"An  act  for  the  more  effectual  prevention  of  cruelty  to  animals  in  the 
Territorv  of  the  District  of  Columbia,"  approved  Angitst  23, 
1871. 

"Whoever,  having  the  charge  or  custody  of  any  animal,  either  as 
owner  or  otherwise,  inflicts  unnecessary  cruelty  upon  the  same  *  *  * 
shall  for  every  such  offense  be  punished  by  imprisonment  in  jail  not 
exceeding  one  year,  or  by  fine  not  exceeding  two  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars,  or  by  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment. 

"Every  owner,  possessor,  or  person  having  the  charge  or  custody 
of  any  animal,  who  *  *  *  knowingly  and  wilfully  authorizes  or 
permits  the  same  to  be  subject  to  unnecessary  torture,  suffering,  or 
cruelty  of  any  kind,  shall  be  punished  for  every  such  oft'ense  in  the 
manner  provided  in  Section  1. 

"Whenever  complaint  is  made  by  any  member  of  the  Association 
for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals  (Washington  Humane  So- 
ciety) on  oath  or  affirmation,  to  any  magistrate  authorized  to  issue 
warrants  in  criminal  cases,  that  the  complainant  believes,  and  has 
reasonable  cause  to  believe,  that  the  laws  in  relation  to  cruelty  to  ani- 
mals have  been  or  are  being  violated  in  any  particular  building  or  place, 
such  magistrate,  if  satisfied  that  there  is  reasonable  cause  for  such 
belief,  shall  issue  a  search  warrant,  authorizing  any  marshal,  deputy 
marshal,  constable,  police  officer,  or  any  member  of  the  Association 
for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals  (Washington  Humane  So- 
ciety), to  search  such  building  or  place. 

"It  shall  be  the  duty  of  all  marshals,  deputy  marshals,  constables, 
police  officers,  or  any  member  of  the  Association  for  the  Prevention  of 
Cruelty  to  Animals  (Washington  Humane  Society),  to  prosecute  all 
violations  of  the  provisions  of  this  Act  which  shall  come  to  their 
notice  or  knowledge,  and  fines  and  forfeitures  collected  upon  or  re- 
sulting from  the  complaint  or  information  of  any  member  of  the  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals  (Washington  Humane 
Society)  under  this  Act  shall  inure  to  and  be  paid  over  to  said  associa- 
tion, in  aid  of  the  benevolent  objects  for  which  it  was  incorpo- 
rated.    *     *     * 

"Nothing  in  this  Act  contained  shall  be  construed  to  prohibit  or 
interfere  with  any  properly  conducted  scientific  experiments  or  inves- 
tigations, which  experiments  shall  be  performed  only  under  the  au- 
thority of  the  faculty  of  some  regularly  incorporated  medical  college, 
university  or  scientific  society." 


36  ■  • 

SO]\IE  OF  THE  ETHICAL  ASPECTS  OF  ANBIAL  I'lXrjiRI- 

MENTATION. 

By 

Wm.  H.  Arthur,  M.  D.,  F.  A.  C.  S.,  Colonel,  U.  S.  Armv,  Retired. 

Medical  Director  Georgetozvn   University  Hospital. 

Lale  Commandant  Army  Medical  School. 

In  a  world  full  of  sickness  and  suffering,  in  which  are  daily 
occurring  many  thousand  premature  and  unnecessary  deaths ;  with  a 
constant  struggle  going  on  in  the  effort  to  accumulate  money,  which 
is  to-day  the  generally  accepted  measure  of  success,  there  are  some 
unselfish  men  who,  giving  up  all  prospect  of  pecuniary  rewards,  or 
of  reputation  outside  the  limits  of  their  own  profession,  are  devoting 
their  lives  to  reducing  the  sum  total  of  human  and  animal  disease, 
alleviating  pain  and  prolonging  life.  The  work  in  this  field  has 
achieved  already  magnificent  results  but  much  yet  remains  to  be 
accomplished.  Very  few  people  begin  to  realize  what  humanitj^ 
already  owes  to  these  investigators,  past  and  present,  and  will  owe 
to  those  to  come  unless  irresponsible  interference  from  outside  ends 
their  efforts.  Yet  while  the  names  of  great  military  commanders 
or  men  who  have  accumulated  enormous  wealth  are  familiar  to 
everyone,  these  great  benefactors  of  their  kind  are  known  by  name 
only  to  the  medical  profession. 

Let  me  illustrate.  How  many  non-medical  men  or  women  know 
who  Leishman  was  or  LofHer  or  Pasteur  or  Lister  or  Walter  Reed? 
These  men  (and  there  are  many  others)  who  have  conferred  the 
greatest  possible  benefits  on  the  race,  are  little  known  to  the  world 
generally.  Yet  the  first  named,  Leishman,  devised  a  method  of  con- 
trolling the  most  common,  dreaded  and  fatal  of  camp  diseases,- 
typhoid  fever,  which  saved  at  least  290,000  of  our  troops  in  the  great 
war,  ten  divisions,  from  three  or  four  months  invalidism,  with 
30,000  deaths.  The  morbidity  and  mortality  from  this  disease  that 
would  certainly  have  occurred  in  the  great  army  assembled  for  this 
war  but  for  preventive  inoculation  are  calculated  on  what  actually  did 
take  place  during  the  Spanish  war,  before  this  method  of  preventing 
typhoid  fever  was  discovered  and  introduced.  Lofifiler  paved  the  way  for 
an  anti-toxin  which  annually  saves  hundreds  of  thousands  of  child- 
ren from  death  or  crippling  from  diphtheria.  The  combined  work 
of  Pasteur  and  Lister  has  made  modern  surgery  with  all  its  magni- 
ficent triumphs  possible ;  and  the  last,  Walter  Reed  rescued  our 
South  Atlantic  and  Gulf  Coasts  from  the  annual  terror  of  yellow 
fever,  which  had  ever  since  the  colonization  of  the  country  become 
epidemic  at  frequent  intervals,  killed  thousands  of  people,  and 
demoralized  commerce  every  year  by  the  enforcement  of  the  April 
to  ,November  quarantine.  All  of  these  great  benefits  to  humanity 
would  have  been  impossible  but  for  animal  experimentation. 


27 

The  word  'vivisection'  is  unfortunate,  misleading  and  inapplicalVe 
to  what  it  is  intended  to  describe.  It  means  simply  cutting  living 
tissue.  Every  surgical  operation,  involving  the  making  of  an  in- 
cision, is  a  vivisection,  but  it  is  done  under  an  anesthetic,  local  or 
general,  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  research  laboratory,  but  the 
word  to  the  sympathetic,  emotional  misinformed  man  or  women 
brings  up  a  vivid  and  distressing  mental  picture  of  a  helpless  animal 
tied  down,  struggling  and  groaning,  while  a  brutal  doctor  tortures 
it,  with  no  other  object  (for  it  is  claimed,  that  no  useful  purpose  is 
accomplished)  than  the  gratification  of  a  morbid,  insane  pleasure  in 
inflicting  and  witnessing  suffering.  This  is  true  only  of  criminal 
degenerates  and  is  a  very  false  conception  of  what  actually  takes 
place  in  these  laboratories.  Instead  of  'vivisection'  the  term  'animal 
e.xperimentation"  might  be  used,  but  even  that  does  not  entirely 
cover  the  ground,  for  animals  must  be  used  in  laboratory  diagnosis 
and  in  the  preparation  and  testing  of  certain  anti-toxins,  sera  and 
^■accines,  that  have  long  ago  passed  the  experimental  stage,  and  now 
provide  the  sanitarian  and  the  practising  physician  with  their 
most  powerful  means  of  preventing  and  curing  certain  very  fa  al 
infectious  diseases.  ^lany  thousand  deaths,  now  easily  avoidable, 
would  result  if  the  suppl}-  of  this  material  should  be  cut  off,  as  it 
would  be  if  the  use  of  animals  in  scientific  work  should  be  pro- 
hibited by  law. 

The  suffering  inflicted  in  the  t)'pe  of  laborator}'  under  discussion 
is  grossly  exaggerated.  A  very  large  majority  of  the  so-called 
'vivisections'  consist  of  a  prick  with  a  hypodermic  needle  and  an  in- 
jection of  the  material  to  be  tested  or  the  supplying  to  or  the  with- 
holding from  animals  of  certain  food  elements.  Anesthetics  are 
always  used  in  procedures  that  would  otherwise  inflict  pain. 

I  am  not  myself  and  never  have  been  a  laboratory  investigator, 
but  I  have  had  under  my  inspection  and  control  a  number  of 
laboratories  of  this  kind  in  this  country  and  in  the  Philippines,  and 
have  seen  a  great  deal  of  the  work  of  my  subordinates,  and  I  have 
never  witnessed  the  harrowing  scenes  so  graphically  described  by 
the  antivivisectionists,  most  of  whom  have  never  entered  a  labora- 
tory. The  men  engaged  in  this  kind  of  work  are  normal  men,  not 
at  all  lacking  in  the  ordinary  feeling  of  humanity,  quite  as  merciful 
as  the  average  non-medical  man  of  the  educated  class  immeasurably 
more  merciful  than  the  sportsman,  who  hunts  for  his  own  amuse- 
ment, or  the  trapper  who  catches  animals  to  secure  furs  for  personal 
adornment.  How  often  have  you  heard  a  big  game  hunter  boast, 
that  though  he  failed  to  bring  in  a  deer,  he  is  sure  his  shot  took 
effect,  for  the  animal  limped  badly  as  it  escaped  and  there  was  blood 
on  the  trail  ?  That  deer  probably,  with  a  shattered  hip  or  shoulder 
or  some  even  more  serious  injury,  lingered  for  days  in  intolerable 
suffering,  finally  dying  of  starvation  or  exhaustion.     At  the  cost  of 


28  .        \ 

what  untold  suffering  were  secured  the  furs  of  the  fox,  beaver, 
marten  or  other  animal,  that  even  the  most  tender  hearted  anti- 
vivisectionist  does  not  hesitate  to  buy  or  wear?  Yet  what  is  done 
for  sport  or  vanity  seems  to  be  considered  perfectly  proper  and 
natural,  while  great  indignation  is  expressed  at  the  relatively  negli- 
gible suffering  inflicted  in  the  laboratory,  with  the  highest  possible 
motive,  ihe  search  for  means  for  reducing"  the  sum  total  of  human 
misery,  and  also  the  suffering  of  other  animals,  for  animal  ex- 
perimentation saves  in  cattle,  swine,  sheep,  poultry  and  dogs,  in- 
finitely more  suffering  than  is  inflicted  on  guinea  pigs,  rabbits  etc. 
in  the  laboratory.  The  bureau  of  animal  industry,  the  farmer,  the 
stock  raiser  or  poultry  man  are  dependent  on  animal  experimenta- 
tion for  the  study  of  animal  diseases.  Any  scientific  veterinarian 
will  bear  me  out  in  this  statement.  It  is  a  very  safe  assertion  that 
the  suffering  inflicted  on  animals  in  the  laborator}'  is  infinitesimal 
as  compared  with  the  suffering  other  animals  are  saved  as  a  result 
of  this  kind  of  research. 

The  protestants  against  the  use  of  the  lower  animals  in  scientific 
research,  as  well  as  in  diagnosis  and  in  the  preparation  and  testing 
of  material  of  thoroughly  proven  and  enormous  value,  base  their 
attack  on  two  assertions,  both  false :  First :  That  intolerable  cruelty 
is  wantonly  practised  in  the  laboratory.  Second :  That  no  useful 
purpose  has  ever  been  secured  by  this  method  of  research.  As  said 
before,  I  venture  to  assert  that  more  animal  suft'ering  results  from 
one  day's  sport  or  from  a  trapper's  successful  catch,  than  is  inflicted 
in  years  in  the  busiest  research  laboratory.  Yet  no  one,  so  far  as 
I  know,  opposes  big  or  little  game  hunting,  or  refuses  to  wear  furs, 
because  they  have  been  secured  at  the  cost  of  so  much  suffering:  for 
imagine  a  fox,  beaver  or  other  animal  caught  in  a  spring  trap,  in 
cold  weather,  with  a  shattered  leg,  slowly  freezing  to  death,  unless 
as  often  happens  the  unfortunate  animal,  to  the  trapper's  disap- 
pointment, secures  his  freedom  by  gnawing  off  his  shattered  leg. 
Nothing  comparable  with  that  ever  happens  in  a  laboratory,  but  it  is 
a  common  occurrence  in  trapping  fur-bearing  animals. 

The  second  statement  that  nothing  of  importance  has  ever  been 
developed  by  animal  experimentation  can  be  believed  only  by  people 
incapable  of  understanding  facts  or  being  convinced  by  absolute 
proof,  or  actual  demonstration.  The  whole  science  oi  physiology, 
the  study  of  the  working  of  the  animal  mechanism,  is  built  up  on 
animal  experimentation.  But  for  it  we  should  know  nothing  of  the 
circulation  of  the  blood,  the  functions  of  the  viscera,  or  the  brain, 
spinal  cord  and  nervous  system  generally.  We  should  be  no  further 
advanced  in  knowledge  of  this  subject  than  were  Paracelsus  or 
Avicenna,  or  than  is  now  the  old  fashioned  Chinese  doctor,  who 
teaches  his  students  that  the  intellect  resides  in  the  spleen,  and  the 
soul-  in  the  left  kidney.     No  new  drug  used  by  the  physician  could 


29 

be  safely  employed  in  treating  sick  human  beings,  till  its  effects 
were  tried  out  on  lower  animals.  Anesthesia,  one  of  the  greatest 
of  benefits  to  mankind  ever  devised,  would  never  have  been  intro- 
duced and  used  as  it  is  to-day,  with  incalculable  saving  of  suffering 
(animal  as  well  as  human)  but  for  the  use  of  animals  in  testing  its 
safety  and  its  general  effect. 

The  whole  of  bacteriology  and  modern  surgery  have  been  slowly 
worked  up  to  their  present  position  among  the  sciences  by  animal 
experimentation.  No  surgeon  would  dare  to  remove  a  kidney  or 
suture  the  intestine,  no  matter  how  badly  damaged,  unless  it  had  been 
shown  it  could  be  done  in  anesthetized  animals  with  perfect  safety, 
and  without  suffering.  Remember,  in  passing,  that  even  if  all  in- 
vestigators in  this  field  were  entirely  devoid  of  the  ordinary  human 
instincts,  which  of  course  is  nonsense  (what  logicians  call  a  "violent 
supposition")  it  would  be  impossible  to  do  a  delicate  dissection  on 
an  unanesthetized  struggling  animal. 

Aseptic  surgery,  one  of  the  greatest  triumphs  of  modern  times, 
would  be  impossible  without  animal  experiments.  I  am  old  enough 
and  young  enough  to  be  able  to  contrast  the  surgical  conditions  of 
forty  years  ago  with  the  magnificent  surgical  successes  of  to-day, 
impossible  without  animal  experimentation 

The  study  of  the  ultimate  cause  of  diseases,  which  is  the  first  step 
in  finding  means  to  prevent  and  cure  them,  has  made  enormous 
progress  but  much  still  remains  to  be  done.  An  intensive  study  is 
going  on  all  over  the  world  to  find  the  cause,  prevention  and  cure 
of  cancer.  There  is  still  much  to  be  learned  of  small-pox.  The 
ultimate  cause  of  scarlatina,  measles  and  muinps  are  unknown,  that 
of  influenza  not  definitely  determined.  There  are  many  other 
problems  of  this  kind  to  be  solved.  Put  a  stop  to  animal  experi- 
mentation and  the  search  must  be  abandoned.  Incaculable  dis- 
aster to  the  human  race  and  to  the  lower  animals  w'ould  result,  many 
epidemics  now  controllable  would  spread  unchecked.  The  result- 
ing misery  and  death  no  man  can  begin  to  calculate,  and  medical 
progress  would  be  completely  arrested.  It  is  undeniably  true  that 
medicine  and  surgery  owe  the  bulk  of  what  they  have  accomplished 
in  the  last  fifty  years  to  animal  experimentation. 

Let  me  state  from  my  own  observation  and  experience  what  was 
accomplished  in  the  eradication  of  disease  in  the  Philippines  in  nine 
years,  most  of  it  the  result  of  animal  experiments,  and  methods 
developed  and  worked  out  in  the  laboratories  of  different  countries, 
largely  by  animal  experimentation.  When  I  left  JManilla,  after  two 
years  stay  there,  in  1902,  the  hospital  I  commanded  contained  about 
500  very  sick  men  (all  light  or  convalescent  cases  were  sent  to  a 
convalescent  hospital).  These  cases  included  smatljpox,  plague, 
beri-beri,  Asiatic  cholera,  typhoid  fever,  and  a  great  many  of  tropical 
amebic  dysentery.    On  my  return  nine  years  later  as  Chief  Surgeon 


30 

of   the   Philippines    I    inspected   the   same   hospital.     There   were    73 
cases  being  treated  then  and  not  one  case  of  communicable  disease.  . 
The  changed  conditions    were    the    result    of    American    Sanitation, 
inaugurated  by  military  and  carried  on  by  civilian  health  officers,  but  ' 
the  methods  b}-  which  that  improvement  was  made  possible,  were 
the  result,  in  the  final  anah^sis,  of  animal  experimentation. 

Take  one  disease  as  an  illustration.  Beri-beri  (known  to  medical 
men  as  disseminated  peripheral  polyneuritis)  was  a  disease  at  first 
unfamiliar  to  doctors  who  had  had  no  tropical  experience.  It  affects 
the  nerve  endings,  causes  extensive  paralysis,  and  some  of  the  most 
frightful  cripplings  you  can  imagine.  At  first  this  was  supposed  to 
be  an  infectious  disease.  It  very  rarely  occurred  among  our  troops, 
but  was  a  scourge  among  the  natives,  and  most  of  them  who  did  not  die 
from  it  -would  have  been  much  better  off  if  they  had,  for  many  muscles 
became  permanently  paralyzed,  opposing  muscles  dragged  the  unfortu- 
nate sufferers  into  the  most  distressing  permanent  contortions.  The 
cases  were  all  isolated,  and  not  one  of  them,  or  very  few,  indeed,  got 
well.  Two  years  later  during  the  Japanese-Russian  War,  the  Japanese 
Navy  suffered  badly  from  beri-beri.  The  surgeon  general  of  that  serv- 
ice proposed  a  change  of  diet,  and  the  cases  improved  and  new  cases 
ceased  to  appear.  Later  on  the  matter  was  seriously  studied,  and  Ved- 
der,  of  the  U.  S.  Army  Medical  Corps,  made  a  series  of  experiments 
on  fowls,  simply  restricting  their  diet  to  polished  rice,  which  forms  the 
bulk  of  the  subsistence  of  the  Filipinos  and  the  Japanese.  He  found 
that  chickens  developed  symptoms  of  beri-beri  which  promptly  disap- 
peared when  rice  polishings  were  added  to  their  diet.  Now  beri-beri 
is  almost  unknown  in  the  Philippines.  In  three  years  I  spent  there, 
1911-1914,  I  never  saw  a  single  case.  The  fact  that  it  was  a  dietetic 
disease,  a  deprivation  neuritis,  was  definitely  proved  on  a  dozen  fowl, 
and  by  insisting  on  the  natives  eating  unpolished  rice  the  disease  has 
practically  disappeared,  for  there  is  some  element  in  the  husk  or  the 
pericarp  of  the  rfce  grain  that  contains  an  essential  food  principle, 
found  in  the  ordinary  diet  of  all  persons  except  those  whose  food  is 
almost  entirely  starch.  This  is  a  good  illustration  of  what  may  be 
accomplished  by  animal  experimentation.  Simply  restricting  the  diet 
of  a  few  fowls  for  a  time  proved  positively  the  cause  of  this  disease. 
One  of  the  methods  of  proving  Vedder's  theory  was  to  give  the  fowls 
rice  polishings  as  soon  as  symptoms  of  paralysis  developed,  when  they 
very  soon  disappeared. 

If  I  were  allowed  thirty  hours  instead  of  thirty  minutes,  I  should 
find  the  time  too  limited  to  enable  me  to  enumerate  and  describe  the 
great  benefits  to  the  race  that  these  great  investigators  have  bestowed 
upon  it  through  animal  experimentation. 

Should  not  every  intelligent  man  or  woman,  worthy  to  be  called 
civilized,  do  all  in  his  power  to  encourage  and  help  these  unselfish 
benefactors  of  the  race?     Can  you  conceive  of  people  calling  them- 


31 

selves  educated  or  intelligent,  so  misguided  as  to  misrepresent,  hamper- 
and  even  to  make  every  effort  to  put  a  stop  to  a  kind  of  scientific  work 
that  has  already  conferred  incalculable  benefits  on  the  human  race  and 
domesticated  animals,  and  is  full  of  promise  of  even  more  than  it  has 
already  achieved. 

Yet  there  actually  are  such  people.  If  they  would  confine  them- 
selves to  anything  remotely  resembling  the  actual  facts,  they  could 
easily  be  silenced,  but  they  harrow  up  the  feelings  of  unthinking  emo- 
tional people  with  the  most  absurd  and  extravagant  misstatements. 
Only  a  few  days  ago  in  this  city  one  of  these  propagandists  luade  the 
assertion  that  medical  students  were  forced  to  witness  the  torture  of 
dogs,  in  order  to  make  them  callous  to  the  sight  of  suffering,  harden 
them  morally  and  eliminate  all  humane  instincts  from  embryo  medical 
men.  Can  there  be  approximately  intelligent  people,  who  can  listen 
patiently  to  and  even  believe  such  fantastic  nonsense?  The  answer 
is  "no,"  for  to  credit  such  absurdities  is  in  itself  proof  of  the  nonexist- 
ence of  any  intelligence  at  all. 


WHAT  ANIMAL  EXPERIMENTATION  HAS  DONE  FOR 
GYNECOLOGY  AND  ABDOMINAL  SURGERY. 

By 

Thomas  S.  Cullen,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Clinical  Gynecology. 

Johns  Hopkins  Hospital. 

To  discuss  adequately  this  important  subject  would  require  more 
time  than  your  patience  would  allow,  and  I  am  reminded  of  the 
statement  made  by  President  Hadley,  of  Yale,  that  no  one  is  converted 
after  twenty  minutes.  Consequently,  in  the  time  at  my  disposal  I 
shall  give  you  only  a  panoramic  view  of  the  advances  in  abdominal 
surgery  and  gynecology  during  the  last  thirty  years. 

We  are  continually  reminded  of  the  wonderful  way  in  which 
nature  has  developed  our  bodies,  and  in  no  part  of  the  human  economy 
is  this  more  evident  than  in  the  abdomen.  It  would  be  impossible  for 
any  man,  no  matter  how  skilled  he  was,  to  pack  away  in  a  small  com- 
partment so  many  vital  structures,  and  to  so  arrange  them  that  no 
one  organ  seems  to  be  crowding  out  the  other. 

If  we  examine  the  abdominal  cavity,  we  find  that  it  is  in  large 
measure  filled  by  the  gastro-intestinal  tract.  The  upper  part  of  this 
is  the  stomach.  Next  comes  the  duodenum  which  is  only  a  few  inches 
long  and  is  continuous  with  the  small  intestine  which  is  many  feet  in 
length.  This,  in  turn,  passes  into  the  large  bowel  through  a  valve-like 
opening,  in  the  vicinity  of  which  is  the  appendix.  The  large  bowel 
is  a  few  feet  in  length  and  terminates  in  the  rectum.  The  intestines 
as  a  whole  are  over  twenty-two  feet  long. 


32  .        ■ 

Occupying  the  right  upper  abdomen  and  lying  chiefly  under  the 
ribs  is  the  liver  and  snuggled  up  under  the  edge  of  this  organ  is  the 
gall-bladder.  In  the  left  upper  abdomen  is  the  spleen,  and  lying  prac-. 
tically  behind  the  stomach  is  the  pancreas. 

In  the  female  the  pelvis  contains  the  uterus,  tubes  and  ovaries. 
Lying  outside  the  peritoneal  cavity  on  either  side  are  the  kidneys  and 
from  each  a  small  tube,  the  ureter,  passes  downward  to  the  base  of 
the  bladder.     Such  is  the  general  topography  of  the  abdomen. 

Some  of  the  older  members  of  my  audience, will  probably  remember 
rhat  thirty  years  ago  one  rarely  heard  of  an  abdominal  operation  except 
for  the  removal  of  an  ovarian  cyst.  At  that  time  we  had  cases  of 
typhilitis,  a  term  used  to  designate  inflammation  around  the  appendix, 
or  were  told  that  a  patient  had  liver  trouble  or  an  inflammation  of  the 
gall-bladder,  but  no  operation  was  suggested  or  performed  for  any 
of  these  important  conditions. 

During  those  dreadful  epidemics  of  typhoid  fever  that  from 
time  to  time  passed  over  a  community  like  a  prairie  fire,  a  perforation 
of  a  typhoid  ulcer  was  diagnosed  and  that  meant  almost  certain  death, 
as  the  surgeon  was  unaware  that  operation  could  be  of  any  value. 

As  we  glance  back  to  former  days  we  remember  that  many  of  our 
friends  were  chronic  invalids,  and  we  looked  upon  their  permanent 
disability  as  a  matter  of  course,  little  realizing  what  might  have  been 
accomplished  had  they  the  advantages  of  the  wonderful  advances  in 
abdominal  surgery  made  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  Just 
imagine  the  dilemma  we  should  be  in  today  if  none  of  our  appendix 
or  gall-stone  cases  could  be  operated  upon ! 

The  normal  appendix  is  about  as  big  around  as  a  small  lead  pencil 
and  varies  from  two  to  three  or  more  inches  in  length.  It  is  a  very 
innocent  looking  object,  and  one  would  not  for  a  moment  think  it 
could  do  harm.  Nevertheless,  it  is  the  "stormy  petrel"  of  the  abdo- 
men. It  is  lined  with  the  same  velvety  membrane  as  that  of  the  large 
bowel,  and  its  lumen  which  is  about  the  size  of  the  lead  in  a  lead 
pencil  is  continuous  with  the  cavity  of  the  bowel.  We  all  know  how 
quickly  a  nostril  will  close  if  we  catch  the  slightest  cold.  If  there  be 
a  slight  inflammation  of  the  large  bowel  this  often  extends  to  the 
appendix,  and  its  opening  into  the  bowel  speedily  closes.  It  is  now 
a  closed  sac,  and  if  the  inflammation  persists  the  appendix  swells  up 
and  finally  gives  way  at  some  point  allowing  its  foul  contents  to  escape 
into  the  -abdomen.  General  peritonitis  often  results  and  the  patient 
dies.  Appendicitis  was  the  "inflammation  of  the  bowels"  of  former 
days. 

Many  of  you  will  doubtless  wonder  why  the  various  stages  in  the 
development  of  appendicitis  were  not  thoroughly  understood  long  be- 
fore, but  when  we  remember  that  abdominal  operations  for  this  con- 
dition were  not  performed  and  that  when  the  abdomen  was  opened 


33 


after  death  in  the  cases  in  which  peritonitis  had  developed,  pus  was 
found  everywhere,  we  cannot  wonder  that  the  true  cause  was  usually 
overlooked. 

If  one  is  in  a  house  when  it  catches  fire  he  is  usually  in  a  position 
to  tell  how  it  started,  hut  when  the  whole  building  is  ablaze  when  he 
reaches  the  scene  it  is  very  difficult,  or  impossible,  to  determine  the 
starting  point. 

To  Louis  Pasteur,  the  people  of  the  world  owe  an  eternal  debt  of 
gratitude  for  his  discovery  of  the  usual  causes  of  infection  or  blood 
poisoning ;  it  was  he  who  pointed  the  way  to  avoid  infections.  His 
discovery  was  promptly  embraced  by  Joseph  Lister  who  applied  it  to 
surgery.  As  a  result  of  the  labors  of  these  two  men  it  was  soon 
possible  to  open  an  abdomen  with  little  or  no  fear  of  subsequent  infec- 
tion. This  opened  up  to  the  surgeon  an  entirely  new  field,  one  here- 
tofore in  large  measure  forbidden  ground.  It  likewise  enabled  him  to 
explore  the  abdominal  cavity  in  very  early  stages  of  various  abdominal 
diseases.  Hei  was  thus  not  only  able  to  follow  the  disease  from  its 
beginning  but,  what  was  more  important,  was  often  able,  figuratively 
speaking,  to  confine  the  fire  to  one  room  and  to  extinguish  it  effectually. 

When  a  new  country  is  thrown  open  to  the  public  the  desirable 
farm  land  is  soon  taken.  Small  villages  spring  up,  roads  are  located, 
and  in  due  course  the  community  is  thoroughly  organized  and  takes  its 
proper  place  in  the  State.  Precisely  the  same  thing  has  taken  place 
m  abdominal  surgery.  At  first  the  appendix  and  gall-bladder  were 
given  special  attention  because  in  these  originate  the  two  most  impor- 
tant and  most  frequent  abdominal  maladies  that  the  abdominal  surgeon 
has  to  deal  with.  After  these  had  been  thoroughly  mastered  other  and 
less  frequent  abdominal  diseases  were  given  due  consideration. 

Perhaps  I  may  be  able  in  a  few  words  to  give  you  a  comprehen- 
sive idea  of  the  more  common  abdominal  conditions  with  which  the 
surgeon  has  to  deal. 

In  the  stomach  we  have  vilcers.  These  may  cause  alarming  hem- 
orrhage or  perforation  may  occur.  The  surgeon  makes  an  opening 
between  the  stomach  and  intestine  in  such  a  way  that  the  food  does, 
not  pass  the  ulcer.  This  leaves  it  quiescent  and  gives  it  a  chance  to 
heal.  If  a  perforation  has  occurred,  he  at  once  sews  up  the  hole  and 
drains  the  abdominal  cavity  to  get  rid  of  the  stomach  contents  that 
have  escaped. 

When  cancer  of  the  stomach  is  detected  early  he  removes  a  por- 
tion of  this  organ  and  usually  attaches  the  remaining  part  of  the  stom- 
ach to  the  intestine,  in  such  a  manner  that  the  contents  can  readily 
pass  along  their  way. 

Ulcer  of  the  duodenum  is  of  common  occurrence.  Here  practi- 
cally the  same  operation  is  performed  as  for  ulcer  of  the  stomach. 

Throughout  various  portions  of  the  small  and  large  intestine 
tumors  may  develop.     The  necessary  segment  of  the  bowel  is  cut  out. 


34 

the  cut  ends  are  approximated,  and  in  many  cases  the  patient  makes 
a  perfect  recovery. 

In  the  female  we  often  find  pus  in  the  tubes  connected  with;  the 
uterus,  and  it  is  usually  necessary  to  remove  these  if  the  patient  is  to' 
regain  her  health.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  pus  tubes  are  infinitely 
less  frequent  in  the  well-to-do  than  they  were  a  decade  ago.  This  is 
undoubtedly  due  to  the  better  education  of  the  public  and  to  the  fact 
that  women  in  the  higher  walks  of  life  will  have  nothing  to  do  with 
their  husbands  if  the  latter  be  infected.  The  next  decade  will  un- 
doubtedly show  the  same  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  women  in  other 
walks  of  life.  These  facts  were  emphasized  by  Dr.  Roland  Hill  in 
his  recent  Presidential  address  delivered  before  the  Western  Surgical 
Association  in  Kansas  City.     They  are  most  significant. 

Uterine  and  ovarian  tumors  in  their  development  often  push  the 
blood  vessels,  the  tubes  from  the  kidneys  to  the  bladder  and  other 
structures,  far  out  of  place  so  that  the  surgeon  finds  it  difficult  to  get 
his  landmarks.  In  such  cases  he  is  often  like  the  mariner  traversing 
an  uncharted  sea.  Sometimes  the  tumors  reach  a  very  large  size  and 
grow  so  fast  to  the  intestines  and  large  blood  vessels  that  it  is  necessary 
to  remove  parts  of  the  intestine  and  occasionally  portions  of  the  impor- 
tant blood  vessels  together  with  the  growth. 

Now  and  again  a  crisis  arises  and  almost  certain  disaster  seems 
imminent.  It  is  then  that  the  surgeon  must  act  with  instant  decision 
and  with  the  utmost  coolness.  He  cannot  back  out,  and  any  minute 
may  be  on  the  rocks.  When  in  such  a  predicament  I  have  been  re- 
minded of  the  man  in  the  signal  tower.  The  limited  was  coming 
rapidly  toward  him  and  beyond  control.  A  moment's  delay  and  a 
head-on  collision  would  occur.  He  thought  quickly — 'better  one  wreck 
than  two' — pulled  the  lever  and  sent  the  limited  into  a  mud  bank. 

No  man  has  any  right  to  do  abdominal  surgery  unless  he  is  pre- 
pared to  do  any  abdominal  operation  that  may  be  necessary,  and 
unless  he  is  ready  to  cope  with  any  abdominal  emergency  at  a  mo- 
ment's notice.  You  may  be  able  to  duplicate  a  train — you  can  never 
reproduce  the  same  individual. 

An  abdominal  surgeon  must  in  the  first  place  be  a  man  with  a  good 
fundamental  knowledge  of  medicine.  He  must  be  a  good  diagnosti- 
cian ;  he  must  be  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  gross  appearance  of  all 
abdominal  lesions  and  also  with  the  appearance  of  these  structures 
under  the  microscope.  He  must  be  a  good  bacteriologist  so  that  he  can 
carry  out  the  technique  of  the  operation  in  such  a  way  that  there  will 
be  little  or  no  chance  of  subsequent  infection. 

He  must  be  able  to  join  up  intestines  so  that  they  will  not  leak  or 
will  not  allow  gas  to  escape.  He  must  be  able  to  join  blood  vessels  so 
securely  that  the  'blood  stream  will  be  continuous,  and  he  must  approxi- 
mate parts  in  such  a  manner  that  they  are  left  perfectly  smooth.     In 


35 

short,  in  addition  to  his   scientific  qualifications  he  must  be  a  good 
plumber  and  gas  fitter,  and  a  first-class  tailor. 

The  successful  surgeon  does  not  confine  his  knowledge  to  medicine 
and  surgery  alone,  but  embraces  every  opportunity  to  learn  all  he  can 
about  business  in  general,  and  especially  concerning  manufacturing 
plants  of  all  sorts.  In  this  way  he  picks  up  many  points  that  are  in- 
valuable to  him  in  his  chosen  field.  Above  all  a  liberal  supply  of  good 
horse  sense  is  his  most  valuable  asset. 

Problems. 

Nearly  all  manufacturing  plants  retain  a  corps  of  experts  who  are 
continually  on  the  look  out  for  new  things  and  who  are  suggesting  new 
methods  whereby  the  existing  products  are  improved  and  produced  with 
less  cost.  Precisely  the  same  applies  to  abdominal  -surgery.  Our 
methods  are  as  a  result  of  experiments  rendered  more  effective  and 
as  a  result  of  animal  experimentation  we  are  rapidly  reducing  the 
cost — in  lives. 

The  experimental  intestinal  work  of  Halstead,  Mall,  Murphy  and 
others  upon  dogs  has  been  of  the  greatest  value.  They  have  given 
us  methods  of  so  bringing  the  bowel  ends  together  that  we  now  rarely 
have  a  leak  after  the  ends  have  been  approximated. 

As  a  result  of  experimental  work  we  are  now  able  to  bring  to- 
gether the  ends  of  blood  vessels  with  the  assurance  that  the  blood  will 
continue  to  pass  normally  through  this  spliced  vessel. 

In  some  operations  the  tube  from  the  kidney  to  the  bladder  has 
been  cut  across  during  the  operation,  not  through  any  fault  of  the 
operator,  but  because  it  has  been  carried  far  from  its  normal  position 
by  a  tumor.  As  a  result  of  experimentation  on  animals  we  now  know 
how  to  join  up  effectually  the  ends  of  the  cut  tube  and  thus  save  the 
kidney  which  would  otherwise  have  to  be  sacrificed.    . 

In  former  days  when  a  patient  had  a  strangulated  hernia  which 
had  existed  for  four  or  five  days  he  would  usually  die  even  after  we 
had  released  the  bowel.  Animal  experimentation  has  taught  us  that 
the  death  was  due  to  poisons  absorbed  from  the  temporarily  paralyzed 
bowel.  We  now  open  the  bowel  above  the  point  of  the  hernia,  allow 
the  poisonous  intestinal  contents  to  escape  and  achieve  success  where 
failure  usually  followed. 

As  a  result  of  experiments  on  animals  we  have  learned  that  chlo- 
roform causes  widespread  necrosis  of  the  liver ;  hence  this  anesthetic 
has  been  practically  discarded  in  this  country,  except  in  obstetrical 
cases  where  it  is  employed  only  for  a  few  moments. 

As  a  result  of  experiments  on  animals  we  have  been  able  to  dis- 
cover how  much  intestine  can  be  removed  and  the  patient  still  live. 

As  a  result  of  experimentation  a  knowledge  of  the  stomach  juices 
was  learned. 


36 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  fundamental  truths  that  have  been 
ascertained  as  a  result  of  operations  on  animals — truths  that  have 
enabled  the  surgeon  to  save  myriads  of  lives. 

The  question  is  often  asked,  "Why  use  the  dog?"  In  many 
laboratory  experiments  mice,  rats,  guinea-pigs,  rabbits  and  other  ani- 
mals have  been  employed.  In  experimental  work  dealing  with  the 
advancement  of  abdominal  surgery  we  have  to  use  a  larger  animal,  an 
animal  whose  abdominal  organs  resemble  in  some  degree  those'  of  the 
human  being,  and  the  dog  is  the  only  animal  that  we  can  satisfactorily 
employ. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  describe  briefly  the  method  of  operating 
on  dogs.  The  instruments  are  carefully  sterilized  by  boiling.  The 
sponges  and  dressings  are  prepared  in  precisely  the  same  manner  that 
they  are  in  a  hospital  operating  room.  The  operator  and  his  assist- 
ants scrub  up  and  go  through  the  same  solutions  that  they  employ  in 
preparing  for  a  regular- abdominal  operation.  A  trained  assistant  is 
selected  to  put  the  dog  to  sleep  and  the  abdominal  preparation  of  the 
animal  is  carried  out  with  the  utmost  care. 

The  operation  itself  is  carried  out  with  the  same  precision  that 
is  in  vogue  in  any  well-organized  operating  room,  and  the  operator 
is  keen  to  see  if  he  can  successfully  perform  the  new  operation  that 
will  in  the  future  enable  him  to  relieve  conditions  in  the  human  being 
that  have  heretofore  baffled  the  surgeons. 

As  soon  as  the  operation  has  been  completed  the  dog  is  placed 
in  a  comfortable  cage  and  given  morphia  or  some  other  drug  that  will 
in  large  measure  relieve  his  suffering.  His  diet  is  also  carefully  super- 
vised until  he  is  able  to  be  up  and  around  again.  This  scrupulous  care 
of  the  animal  is  absolutely  essential  otherwise  many  of  these  valuable 
and  successful  experiments  would  end  in  failure. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that,  when  the  animal  operating  room  at 
the  Rockefeller  Institute  was  established,  the  head  nurse  of  one  of  the 
best  operating  rooms  in  the  country  was  selected  to  take  charge  of  this 
department. 

When  a  physician  who  was  visiting  the  Rockefeller  Institute 
dropped  in  to  see  the  dogs  that  had  been  operated  on  they  immediately 
started  to  bark  furiously,  but  as  soon  as  the  surgeon  who  had  per- 
formed the  operations  and  watched  them  subsequently,  appeared  their 
barking  ceased  and  the  dogs  wagged  their  tails  furiously.  The  dogs, 
of  course,  did  not  know  that  the  surgeon  had  produced  their  suffering. 
They  were  asleep.  They  only  knew  that  he  had  been  kind  to  them 
when  suffering.     Further  comment  is  unnecessary. 

The  Training  of  Young  Surgeons. — The  public  has  a  right  to  de- 
mand the  best  surgical  service  obtainable.  In  the  early  days  many 
a  man  after  years  of  general  practice  gradually  drifted  into  operating. 
The  surgery  of  today  requires  such  perfection  in  diagnosis,  such  a 
knowledge  of  pathology,  operative  technique  and  after  treatment  that 


37 

the  embryo  surgeon  must  after  spending  one  or  two  years  in  a  medicaL 
clinic  start  at  the  bottom  rung  of  the  surgical  ladder  and  work  up. 
He  will  begin  as  a  junior  assistant  taking  histories  on  the  wards,  mak- 
ing the  necessary  routine  laboratory  examinations,  handling  instru- 
ments at  operations,  and  in  looking  after  the  patients  that  have  been 
operated  upon.  After  a  year  in  such  work  he  may  become  a  second 
assistant.  His  responsibilities  are  now  greater,  and  he  may  be  allowed 
to  do  minor  operations.  When  he  has  won  his  spurs  he  is  advanced 
to  be  first  assistant,  and  finally  becomes  the  resident  surgeon  in  the 
hospital. 

The  assistant  learns  much  from  his  chief,  and  in  due  time  is  able 
to  perform  complicated  operations,  but  there  are  some  that  he  can 
rarely  if  ever  successfully  perform  the  first  time.  This  is  perfectly 
natural.  The  plumber's  assistant  might  watch  his  employer  success- 
fully weld  joints  for  months  without  being  able  to  do  so  himself.  In 
order  to  become  a  master  plumber  it  is  necessary  for  him  to  do  some 
of  the  welding  himself,  and  some  of  his  first  attempts  in  this  direction 
are  doomed  to  failure.  With  the  plumber's  apprentice  this  does  not 
matter  much ;  he  can  try  over  again,  and  if  necessary  secure  new  pipes. 
When  the  surgical  assistant  attempts  for  the  first  time  to  bring  the  two 
ends  of  a  bowel  together  and  so  suture  them  that  the  joint  is  absolutely 
water  and  air  tight  he  is  often  doomed  to  failure  and  the  patient,  it 
a  human  being,  usually  succumbs.  It  is  essential  that  he  do  the  opera- 
tion on  dogs  first  and  after  from  one  to  four  or  five  trials  he  can  with 
ease  make  a  perfect  joint. 

The  same  applies  where  he  has  to  join  up  the  small  tube  that  con- 
nects the  kidney  with  the  bladder.  It  also  is  applicable  in  several  other 
abdominal  emergencies. 

When  we  look  at  the  subject  squarely  it  resolves  itself  into  this — 
in  the  first  few  operations  in  which  abdominal  tubes  are  to  be  joined 
up  failures  are  bound  to  result  and  death  ensues.  Is  it, better  to  lose  a 
few  dogs  or  a  corresponding  number  of  people  while  the  surgeon  is 
securing  the  necessary  skill  in  the  performance  of  these  important 
and  difficult  procedures  ? 

Surgeons  are  often  thought  to  be  lacking  in  sympathy,  but  I  have 
never  met  a  more  warm-hearted  group  of  men.  The  nature  of  their 
calling,  however,  does  not  allow  them  to  let  their  feelings  run  away 
with  their  judgment.  They  are  often  called  upon  to  operate  upon 
their  nearest  and  dearest  relatives,  at  times  not  knowing  whether  they 
will  be  able  to  get  them  off  the  table  alive.  There  is  nothing  in  this 
world  that  pulls  harder  on  the  heart  strings  of  any  man  than  such  an 
ordeal,  and  yet  throughout  the  entire  operation  the  surgeon  must  com- 
bine consummate  judgment  with  absolute  coolness,  otherwise  he  can- 
not do  his  best.  There  is  little  wonder  that  the  busy  surgeon  must 
take  frequent  vacations  otherwise  he  would  snap  under  the  strain. 

To  physicians  and  surgeons  the  innermost  life  of  the  community  is 


38 

,  laid  bare.  The  veneer  and  camouflage  of  society  are  torn  aside,  and 
the  true  Hfe  of  society  as  it  actually  is  stands  out  in  bold  relief  before 
him.  Could  any  man  except  one  with  a  heart  of  stone  under  such 
circumstances  fail  to  develop  to  a  large  degree  an  unbounded  synipath.y 
with  mankind  ? 

All  surgeons  have  been  small  boys,  and  it  is  the  exception  to  find, 
a  lad  who  does  not  love  animals  and  above  all  dogs.  Well  do  I 
remember  the  mongrel  dog  that  was  my  boon  companion,  just  after  I 
had  learned  to  toddle  around.  The  pranks  of  my  large  New  Found- 
land  dog,  Ponto,  will  always  linger  in  my  memory. 

That  splendid  thorough-bred  collie,  Toby,  was  a  delight  to  us  all, 
but  like  some  of  his  race  he  occasionally  exhibited  diabolical  qualities, 
and  like  a  flash  would  bite  members  of  the  family.  In  a  moment  his 
anger  subsided,  and  for  days  he  would  in  every  way  manifest  his  sor- 
row for  the  outburst.  When  it  became  necessary  to  put  him  to  sleep 
on  account  of  his  being  a  menace  to  the  neighbors  there  was  a  sadness 
in  the  family  akin  to  the  loss  of  one's  very  own. 

Late  one  warm  July  night  in  1906,  long  after  we  had  retired  the 
door  bell  rang,  and  the  expressman  brought  in  a  small  crate.  On 
opening  the  door  of  this  a  small,  shaggy  mite  four  weeks  old  and  not 
over  six  inches  long  toddled  out.  At  first  he  was  very  shy,  but  after 
drinking  a  saucer  of  milk  became  friendly  In  a  few  days  he  owned 
the  house.  He  had  the  usual  children's  diseases,  such  as  distemper 
and  intestinal  upsets,  and  in  each  of  these  was  tenderly  nursed. 

Like  all  young  children, he  manifested  a  tendency  to  run  away, 
and  on  one  occasion  was  missing  for  two  days.  Scotties  are  no  beau- 
ties, and  an  advertisement  for  "an  ugly-looking  little  black  dog" 
brought  him  back  promptly.  When  four  or  five  years  old  he  was  des- 
perately ill,  and  we  feared  for  his  life.  He  was  at  once  taken  over 
to  the  Hunterian  Laboratory — the  dog  hospital  of  the  Johns  Hopkins 
Medical  School — and  put  under  the  care  of  the  young  surgeon  in 
charge.  Appropriate  treatment  was  at  once  instituted,  and  when  we 
left  him  there,  those  wistful  and  pleading  eyes  followed  us  to  the  door. 
No  human  being  could  have  spoken  more  plainly.  Next  morning  we 
went  over  to  the  hospital  expecting  to  find  him  dead.  Imagine  our 
joy  and  surprise  to  see  him  running  around  the  cage  and  wagging  his 
tail  furiously. 

One  summer  we  went  to  Europe  and  he  was  put  out  to  boird.  On 
our  return  a. more  seedy  and  bedraggled  little  animal  could  not  be 
found.  That  settled  it,  he  has  his  own  trunk,  and  each  year  he  travels 
with  the  family  to  the  back  woods  of  Canada  where  for  two  months  he 
is  continually  busy  in  chasing  chipmunks,  digging  holes  and  in  locathig 
bones  that  he  had  buried  in  previous  years. 

For  a  long  period  he  and  I  lived  alone,  and  each  night  he  was  faith- 
fully waiting  for  me  at  the  head  of  the  stairs,  and  each  night  he  and  I 
went  for  a  walk  before  retiring.     Sometimes,  when  an  emergency  op- 


39 


eration  has  detained  me  late  into  the  night,  our  stroll  has  been  deferred 
until  1  or  2  o'clock  in  the  morning,  but  he  never  misses  it  when  I  am 
home. 

Killie  is  now  nearly  fourteen  years  old.  He  cannot  climb  as  he 
once  could,  he  has  a  cataract  in  one  eye,  and  he  is  an  old  man,  but  he 
is  still  an  inseparable  member  of  the  family  and  beloved  by  all.  He 
has  brought  untold  happiness  to  the  household  and  is  a  most  valued 
friend.     As  I  write  this  he  is  lying  at  my  feet. 

If  one  of  my  family  were  desperately  ill,  and  if  it  were  necessary 
to  try  some  animal  experiment  with  the  hope  of  saving  their  life,  and 
if  it  were  impossible  to  secure  another  dog  for  the  purpose,  then  1 
should  with  great  reluctance  be  forced  to  operate  on  Killie.  Physi- 
cians and  surgeons  in  the  past  have  not  only  risked  but  given  their  lives 
for  their  patients  and  will  continue  to  do  so  in  the  future.  We  can 
well  imagine  the  agony  in  the  heart  of  Abraham  when  he  was  prepar- 
ing to  offer  up  his  son,  Isaac,  as  a  sacrifice. 

When  considering  the  subject  of  vivisection  I  am  continually  re- 
minded of  the  woman  who  was  visiting  an  asylum.  In  her  curiosity 
she  opened  a  door  and  saw  a  man  riding  a  broomstick.  Though  some- 
what startled  she  said  "I  see  you  are  riding  a  horse."  The  man  replied, 
"No,  it  is  a  hobby,  if  it  were  a  horse  I  could  get  off."  We  all  have 
our  hobbies,  or  should  have  them.  It  is  the  man  or  woman  who  has 
a  hobby  that  accomplishes  things,  but  in  following  out  our  hobbies 
let  us  view  the  subject  from  every  standpoint,  let  us  see  if  we  are  on  the 
right  track. 

In  the  Hunterian  Laboratory  at  Hopkins  and  catching  ones  eye  as 
he  enters  the  building  is  a  conspicuous  list  of  rules  which  are  and  have 
been  rigidly  enforced  for  years.  Among  other  rules  is  the  following: 
"Any  attendant  who  strikes  a  dog  is  to  be  discharged  at  once."  Every 
precaution  for  the  humane  treatment  of  animals  has  been  scrupulously 
observed. 

We  should  be  as  careful  and  considerate  of  animals  as  we  are  of 
people,  but  if  by  the  experimentation  on  a  few  animals  we  can  save 
many  lives,  is  it  not  our  duty  to  do  so?  Would  you  be  willing  to  lose 
one  of  your  dear  ones  rather  than  have  the  surgeon  sacrifice  a  few 
dogs — you  certainly  would  not  when  the  acid  test  came 

What  would  you  think  of  an  apprentice  carpenter  being  given 
valuable  mahogany  to  work  on.  You  would  consider  it  absurd.  He 
should  practice  on  the  cheapest  kind  of  lumber  until  he  has  gained 
sufficient  skill  to  handle  adequately  the  rare  and  more  costly  woods. 
Human  beings  are  the  mahogany  of  surgery. 

Why  is  it  that  American  surgeons  when  ill  abroad  and  needing 
surgical  operations,  if  possible,  take  the  first  boat  for  America?  It  is 
because  they  feel  that  they  can  get  better  surgical  treatment  in  this 
country  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world.     The  wonderful  advances  in 


40 

American  surgery  have  in  no  small  measure  been  due  to  the  careful 
and  painstaking  animal  experiments  carried  on  in  the  United  States. 

The  people  of  the  world  owe  a  tremendous  debt  to  Louis  Pasteur, 
to  Joseph  Lister  and  to  the  results  of  animal  experimentation.  Myri-  ■ 
ads  of  useful  men  and  women,  now  alive  and  well,  would  have  lorrg 
since  passed  to  their  eternal  resting  place  had  it  not  been  for  the  funda- 
mental discoveries  of  Pasteur  and  Lister,  and  for  the  new  and  better 
methods  revealed  to  us  by  experiments  on  dogs. 

The  citizens  of  the  United  States,  when  ill,  rely  absolutely  on  the 
judgment'  of  their  surgeon  and  place  themselves  and  their  families 
under  the  care  of  these  surgeons,  knowing  full  well  that  they  will 
receive  the  best  possible  surgical  care.  Such  being  the  case,  the  public 
can  with  confidence  rely  on  the  surgeon  to  be  careful,  conscientious 
and  humane  in  his  experimentation  on  dogs,  which  is  absolutely  essen- 
tial to  the  continued  advancement  of  this  important  branch  and  to 
Medicine  as  a  whole. 


ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  ANIMAL  EXPERIMENTATION  IN 
GENERAL  SURGERY. 

By 

George  Tully  Vaughan,  M.  D.,  LL.  D.,  F.  A.  C.  S. 

Professor  of  Surgery,  Georgetotvn  University. 

Man  in  the  beginning  was  given  control  of  all  inferior  animals 
for  use,  but  not  for  abuse,  and  this  right  to  use  extends  to  confining 
the  animals  in  captivity,  making  them  work  for  him,  and  even  taking 
their  lives  for  any  good  and  sufficient  reason. 

Man  gives  his  own  life  and  often  sustains  great  hardship  and  suf- 
fering in  support  of  a  worthy  cause,  or  for  the  benefit  of  his  kind ; 
then  why  should  he  hesitate  to  use  the  lower  animals,  who  have  been 
given  into  his  keeping,  for  any  worthy  purpose  ? 

I  am  as  much  opposed  to  cruelty  in  the  true  meaning  of  that  word 
as  the  most  violent  and  senseless  antivivisectionist,  but  the  use  of  ani- 
mals and  their  sacrifice  at  times  even  with  sufifering,  when  done  for 
the  benefit  of  the  human  race,  is  not  cruelty. 

I  have  read  a  number  of  attacks  on  all  who  believe  in  the  prin- 
ciples I  have  just  stated,  and  especially  on  the  members  of  the  medical 
profession,  but  the  most  remarkable  and  amusing  of  them  all  is  a  book 
by  Stephen  Coleridge. 

Stephen  Coleridge,  in  his  book  entitled  "Vivisection — A  Heartless 
Science,"  1916,  feels  it  his  duty  to  attack  vivisection  as  he  is  a  repre- 
sentative in  the  fourth  generation  from  the  one  who  wrote  the  "An- 


41 

cient  Mariner,"  and  modestly  continues,  "I  may  claim  with  some  par- 
donable pride  to  have  acquired  my  convictions  from  three  generations 
of  ancestors,  whose  title  to  distinction  in  the  fields  of  law  and  letters 
cannot  be  gainsaid." 

After  reading  his  book  one  is  compelled  to  believe  that  however 
much  he  may  know  of  "law  and  letters,"  his  knowledge  of  physiology 
is  woefully  deficient.  To  select  one  from  the  numerous  examples  of 
erroneous  deduction,  ignorantly  or  wilfully  made,  read  his  criticism  of 
certain  experiments  made  on  animals  by  keeping  them  continually  under 
the  influence  of  alcohol,  as  showing  his  idea  of  cruelty : 

"Surely  it  is  time  that  all  decent  men  and  women  in  England  raised 
their  voices  in  solemn  protest  against  these  dreadful  claims  of  physi- 
ology, claims  that  revolt  the  heart  and  shock  the  conscience." 

Coming  from  a  man  of  such  pride  in  his  logic,  education,  and 
hereditary  convictions,  this  hysterical  outburst  is  surprising  over  a 
condition  in  which  the  animal  is  blissfully  unconscious  of  worry  and 
certainly  free  from  all  pain. 

The  issue,  he  writes,  is  "whether  vivisection  as  practiced  is  right, 
not  whether  it  is  useful  to  science." 

What  sophistry — the  killing  of  a  man  in  the  abstract  is  not  right, 
yet  it  is  universally  conceded  that  circumstances  often  make  it  right. 
He  attacks  the  support  or  aid  of  medical  schools  by  hospitals,  criticiz- 
ing Lord  Lister's  approval,  and  pays  his  respects  especially  to  the 
affairs  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  conclusive  evidence  that  he  fails 
to  see  the  benefit  which  the  schools  with  their  students  and  physicians 
bring  to  the  hospital,  and  showing  his  prejudiced  and  distorted  opinion 
of  the  medical  profession. 

The  deductions  from  Sir  Victor  Horsley's  answers  to  questions 
by  the  Royal  Commission  on  Vivisection  are  unfair  and  unwarranted ; 
the  insinuation  that  men  like  Brunton,  Powers,  Schaefer,  Morris, 
Swazey,  Bruce,  Osier  and  others  obtained  their  honors  by  practicing 
or  supporting  what  he  regards  as  an  infamous  practice,  is  slanderous ; 
but  the  tribute  to  the  leading  lights  of  science  in  America,  in  the  sug- 
gestion that  asses'  ears  be  grafted  on  the  heads  of  the  operators,  is 
amusing,  as  "the  idea  instantly  occurs  to  the  reader  that  the  head  of 
the  author  would  be  much  more  appropriate  for  adornment  with  these 
emblems  of  unreasonable  obstinacy  and  stupidity. 

To  read  the  author's  own  account  of  how  he  has  punctured  the 
inflated  arguments  of  his  opponents  with  his  irresistible  .logic,  marks 
him  as  a  regular  Boanerges  in  control  of  the  lightning  and  thunder, 
and  to  oppose  his  judgment  or  opinion  is  to  invite  destruction. 

The  charge  of  megalocephaly  (bigheadedness)  made  against  Sir 
Edward  Schaefer  is  another  instance  of  transferring  one's  own  pecu- 
liarities to  the  shoulders  of  another.  The  entire  tone  of  the  book  forces 
the  conclusion  that  the  author  is  a  man  whose  self-conceit  is  colossal, 
whose  skill  in  distorting  language  from  its  honest  meaning  to  suit  his 


43 


purpose  is  phenomenal,  but  whose  faith  in  the  integrity  of  those  who 
differ  with  him  is  pitiable,  and  whose  logic  is  ridiculous. 

Let  us  hear  now  some  of  truth  and  soberness :  After  the  Royal 
Commission  on  Vivisection  had  concluded  its  sessions  and  the  examina- 
tion of  numerous  advocates  and  opponents  of  vivisection,  the  Earl  of 
Cromer,  who  might  be  regarded  as  an  unprejudiced  party,  thus  ex- 
presses his  opinions : 

"I  felt  strongly  that  the  vivisectionists  and  not  their  opponents 
were  the  true  humanitarians.  *  *  *  The  argument  that  the  re- 
searches of  the  vivisectionists  have  been  barren  of  results  ought  to  be 
finally  discarded  by  all  save  those  who  are  not  open  to  conviction. 
*  *  *  The  case  of  the  antivivisectionists,  when  submitted  to  the 
test  of  cross-examination,  broke  down  helplessly." 

A  word  now  regarding  some  of  the  benefits  we  enjoy  from  animal 
experimentation. 

Seventy-five  years  ago  little  was  known  as  to  the  exact  relations 
between  the  anatomy  and  the  functions  of  the  brain,  spinal  cord  and 
nerves.  Watson  in  1845  (Head)  said:  "The  structure  of  the  nervous 
system  has  no  perceptible  or  understood  subservience  to  its  functions," 
and  he  believed  that  the  brain  was  the  seat  of  a  sort  of  generalized 
function  with  no  special  centers.  Now  we  know,  thanks  to  the  experi- 
ments of  Ferrier,  Hitzig,  Sherrington,  Greenbaum  and  others,  on  the 
brains  of  monkeys  that  every  motion  and  sensation  in  the  body  has 
its  center  or  little  group  of  cells  in  the  brain  which  control  it,  so  that 
any  stimulation  or  injury  to  that  center  in  the  brain  is  shown  by  a 
certain  sensation  or  movement  of  the  muscles  of  the  part  so  controlled. 
It  is  an  ordinary  event  now,  in  injury  or  disease  of  the  brain  for  the 
surgeon  by  observing,  for  example,  movements  or  paralysis  of  the 
muscles  of  the  foot,  hand,  eye,  mouth,  etc.,  to  know  exactly  in  what 
part  of  the  brain  to  look  for  the  blood  clot,  tumor  or  whatever  may 
be  causing  the  trouble. 

This  was  illustrated  in  the  case  of  a  prominent  presidential  candi- 
date, when  twitchings  or  paralysis  began  in  one  of  his  feet,  the  surgeon 
knew  just  where  to  look  for  the  cause  in  the  brain,  namely,  the  center 
controlling  that  foot,  so  he  opened  the  skull  and  found  and  removed 
a  tumor. 

It  was  Charles  Bell's  experiments  on  a  donkey  about  1811  that 
established  the  difference  in  function  between  the  fifth  and  seventh 
cranial  nerves  and  thus  enabled  us  to  operate  successfully  on  thousands 
of  cases  of  neuralgia  of  the  face. 

The  surgery  of  the  thyroid  gland  and  the  intelligent  treatment  of 
goitre  was  worked  out  by  animal  experimentation;  even  great  anato- 
mists like  Luschka  having  no  appreciation  of  the  f-unctions  of  the 
thyroid  or  parathyroid  glands  and  their  important  relation  to  life  and 
health.  In  the  first  operations  sometimes  all  of  the  thyroid  and  para- 
thyroid glands  were  removed,  when  the  patient  either  died  in  convul- 


43 

sions  or  lived  a  short,  crippled  life  with  bloated  features,  cold  and 
thickened  skin,  intellectual  stupidity,  ending  in  imbecility.  By  investiga- 
tion on  animals  it  was  found  that  when  all  of  the  parathyroids  were 
removed,  the  animal  dies  of  tetany,  so  that  now  in  surgical  operations 
for  goitre  we  are  always  careful  to  leave  at  least  one  parathyroid  gland. 

Before  removing  the  larynx  for  cancer  in  man,  Czerny  experi- 
mented on  dogs  and  found  that  they  survived  the  operation  and  con- 
tinued in  good  health  and  now  it  is  an  established  life-saving  opera- 
tion for  man. 

Likewise  Simon  in  1869,  before  removing  a  kidney  from  man, 
established  the  fact  that  dogs  survived  the  loss  of  one  kidney  without 
any  detriment  to  their  health,  and  that  is  now  a  very  common  opera- 
tion for  malignant  tumors,  tuberculosis,  abscess,  stone,  etc.,  and  the 
man  lives  and  enjoys  life  seemingly  as  well  off  with  one  kidney  as 
with  two. 

In  1867  Oilier  proved  by  experiments  on  animals  that  bone  or 
periosteum  would  live  and  grow  and  make  new  bone  if  transplanted 
from  one  part  to  another  of  the  same  animal,  or  if  transplanted  from 
one  animal  to  another  animal.  From  the  knowledge  obtained  in  this 
manner  have  come  the  numerous  and  wonderful  operations  on  bones. 

In  older  times  surgeons  could  make  a  new  nose  (for  one  whose 
nose  had  been  destroyed)  by  turning  a  flap  down  from  his  forehead  or 
getting  a  flap  from  his  arm,  but  it  was  a  soft,  mushy  nose.  Now, 
when  this  is  necessary,  we  transplant  a  piece  of  bone  to  stiffen  the 
soft  parts,  obtained  from  the  outer  table  of  the  skull,  from  the  end  of 
a  finger  or  from  one  of  the  ribs.  Parts  of  the  skull  are  sometimes 
destroyed  by  wounds  leaving  the  brain  covered  only  by  the  soft  parts 
which  may  cause  fits  or  lead  too  easily  to  injury  to  the  brain.  These 
defects  in  the  skull  are  filled  in  now,  not  by  silver  or  celluloid  plates, 
as  was  formerly  done,  but  by  bone  obtained  by  splitting  off  a  piece  of 
the  outside  table  of  the  skull  near  the  defect  or  by  cartilage  obtained 
from  the  ends  of  the  patient's  ribs.  A  long  bone  partially  destroyed 
may  have  the  gap  filled  in  by  transplanting  a  fragment  from  some  bone 
large  enough  to  spare  it — placing  and  fixing  the  fragment  between  the 
ends  of  the  two  fragments  and  holding  it  in  place  until  union  occurs. 

Where  the  thumb  has  been  lost  or  all  the  fingers,  a  substitute  for 
the  thumb  for  the  fingers  to  press  against,  or  a  substitute  for  the 
fingers  for  the  thumb  to  press  against,  has  been  made  by  transplant- 
ing a  suitable  bone  or  fragment  and  fixing  it  in  its  new  position.  For 
the  treatment  of  tuberculosis  of  the  spine,  which  leads  to  hunchback, 
a  fragment  taken  from  the  larger  bone  in  the  leg  is  transplanted  into 
the  part  of  the  spine  which  is  diseased  in  order  to  hold  the  parts  at  rest 
until  cure  takes  place  and  prevent  the  deformity  of  hunchback. 

Even  entire  joints,  as  the  knee,  have  been  transplanted  success- 
fully— the  diseased  joint  is  cut  out  and  a  healthy  joint  of  proper  size 
from  a  recently  amputated  limb  is  fixed  in  its  place  until  union  occurs. 


44 

Metchnikoff  in  1903  inoculated  apes  with  syphilis,  and  in  1905 . 
Schaudin  and  Hoffmann  discovered  the  germ  of  the  disease.     A  few 
years  later,  in  1910,  Ehrlich  discovered  his  famous  606,  or  salvarsan,  ■ 
after  605  other  remedies  had  been  tried  unsuccessfully. 

In  1876  Gussenbauer  and  Winiwarter  experimented  on  dogs' 
stomachs  and  were  surprised  and  pleased  to  find  after  cutting  out 
pieces  and  sewing  them  together  that  the  parts  united  and  grew 
together  as  kindly  as  do  wounds  of  the  skin,  instead  of  being  digested 
or  destroyed  by  the  gastric  juice  as  was  the  common  belief. 

In  1861  Billroth  did  the  first  successful  pylorectomy  (excision  of 
a  portion  of  the  stomach)  on  the  human  being.  In  1881  few  surgeons 
were  bold  enough  to  open  the  abdomen  even  for  the  treatment  of  gun- 
shot wounds.  Then  it  was  that  Parkes,  at  Chicago,  experimented  on 
thirty-seven  dogs  by.  shooting  them  through  the  bowels  while  etherized, 
then  operating  on  the  wounds  and  proved  that  opening  the  abdomen 
and  sewing  up  the  bullet  holes  was  the  best  method  of  treatment.  This 
has  led  to  the  saving  of  thousands  of  lives,  and  the  surgeon  of  today 
who  fails  to  operate  in  such  cases  would  be  negligent  of  his  duty. 

Not  only  do  we  operate  for  wounds  of  the  stomach  and  bowels, 
but  for  many  diseases,  such  as  cancer  and  ulcer.  A  portion  of  the 
stomach  containing  the  cancer  is  cut  out  and  the  ends  sewed  together, 
or  the  ends  may  be  closed  by  stitches  and  a  new  opening  made  between 
the  stomach  and  the  bowel.  When  the  disease  is  so  far  advanced  that 
removal  is  impossible,  the  stomach  or  the  bowel  above,  and  the  bowel 
below  the  disease,  which  causes  obstruction  are  united,  "short  circuited" 
as  it  is  called,  so  that  the  obstruction  is  relieved  and  the  patient's  life 
prolonged  and  made  more  comfortable.  It  was  also  found  that  the 
entire;  stomach  could  be  removed  and  the  patient  live.  Schlatter  at 
Zurich,  Switzerland,  did  the  first  successful  complete  removal  of  the 
stomach  in  1897,  and  the  patient  lived  about  one  year,  dying  of  a  return 
of  the  disease  (cancer)  in  some  other  form.  Since  then  the  operation 
has  been  done  many  times  with  go'od  results. 

Forty  years  ago  no  one  had  dared  to  operate  on  a  human  heart. 
If  it  was  penetrated  by  a  knife  or  bullet,  the  patient  was  permitted  to 
die  without  any  interference  on  the  pai't  of  the  surgeon.  Even  with 
this  method  of  no  treatment  some  patients  recovered,  and  in  1867 
Fischer  published  a  list  of  456  wounds  of  the  heart  with  an  estimated 
recovery  of  5  to  10  per  cent ;  but  as-  no  operation  was  done,  it  is  prob- 
able that  most  of  the  recoveries  were  in  those  in  whom  the  heart  had 
not  been  wounded,  and  it  would  be  nearer  correct  to  assume  that  recov- 
eries from  penetrating  wounds  of  the  heart  treated  by  the  "watchful 
waiting"  plan  would  not  exceed  5  per  cent. 

In  1895  Rosenthal  and  Del  Vacchio  made  a  number  of  experiments 
on  dogs  and  found  that  they  could  be  cured  when  the  heart  was 
wounded  by  opening  the  chest  and  sewing  up  the  wound  in  the  heart. 
The  next  year  Farina,  of  Rome,  sewed  up  a  wound  in  the  heart  of  a 


45 

man,  and  the  man  lived  six  days  and  died  of  pneumonia.  During  the 
same  year  Rehn  performed  the  first  completely  successful  operation 
of  sewing  up  a  wound  in  the  heart.  Twelve  years  ago  (1908)  I  col- 
lected 150  cases  in  which  wounds  of  the  heart  had  been  sewed  up  and 
35  per  cent  (52)  of  the  patients  recovered — a  gain  of  about  30  per  cent 
over  the  do-nothing  method.  Since  that  time  many  other  patients  with 
wounds  of  the  heart  have  been  saved  by  operation. 

All  of  us  hope  to  see  the  time  when  diseases  of  the  heart  can  be 
operated  on  and  cured  in  the  same  way.  In  diseases  of  the  heart,  the 
valves  often  become  too  small,  or  the  natural  openings  by  which  one 
chamber  opens  into  another  or  into  the  great  blood  vessels,  become  too 
large  or  too  small,  so  a  leak  occurs. 

Carrel  and  his  co-laborers  at  the  Rockefeller  Institute  have  demon- 
strated the  fact  that  in  dogs  the  valves  in  the  heart  and  the  natural 
openings  can  be  sewed  up,  enlarged,  or  reduced  in  size  without  killing 
the  animal.  In  the  same  way  large  blood  vessels  which  have  been 
wounded  have  been  preserved  by  sewing  up  the  wounds,  or  where 
they  have  been  divided  by  sewing  the  ends  together,  or  where  much  of 
the  vessel  has  been  destroyed,  by  transferring  a  piece  of  another  ves- 
sel which  can  be  spared  to  take  the  place  of  the  portion  which  has  been 
'destroyed. 

In  several  cases  one  lobe  (that  is  nearly  half)  of  one  lung  has  been 
successfully  removed,  and  in  one  case  Lilienthal  removed  almost  the 
entire  lung  with  recovery  of  the  patient. 

I  cannot  do  better  in  closing  than  to  quote  the  words  of  Dr.  W.  W. 
Keen,  the  Nestor  of  American  surgery,  in  comparing  the  achievements 
of  the  friends  of  experimentation  with  the  achievements  of  its  oppo- 
nents. 

Under  Experiaientation. 

"1.  They  have  discovered  and  developed  the  antiseptic  method,  and 
so  have  made  possible  all  the  wonderful  results  of  modern  surgery. 

"2.  They  have  made  possible  practically  all  modern  abdominal 
surgery,  including  operations  on  the  stomach,  intestines,  appendix,  liver, 
gallbladder,  pancreas,  spleen,  kidneys,  etc. 

"3.  They  have  made  possible  all  the  modern  surgery  of  the  brain. 

"4.  They  have  recentty  made  possible  a  new  surgery  of  the  chest, 
including  the  surgery  of  the  heart,  lungs,  aorta,  oesophagus,  etc. 

"5.  They  have  almost  entirely  abolished  lockjaw,  after  operations, 
and  even  after  accidents. 

"6.  They  have  reduced  the  deathrate  after  compound  fractures 
from  two  out  of  three ;  i.  e.,  66  in  a  hundred  to  less  than  1  in  a  hundred. 

"7.  They  have  reduced  the  deathrate  of  ovariotomy  from  2  out  of 
3  or  66  in  a  hundred  to  2  or  3  out  of  a  hundred. 

"8.  They  have  made  the  deathrate  after  operations  like  hernia, 
amputation  of  the  breast,  and  of  most  tumors  a  negligible  factor. 


46 

"9.  They  have  abohshed  yellow  fever — a  wonderful  triumph. 

"10.  They  have  enormously  diminished  the  ravages  of  the  deadly 
malaria,  and  its  abolition  is  only  a  matter  of  time. 

"11.  They  have  reduced  the  deathrate  of  hydrophobia  from  12  to 
14  per  cent  of  persons  bitten  to  0.77  per  cent. 

"13.  They  have  devised  a  method  of  direct  transfusion  of  blood 
which  has  already  saved  many  lives. 

"13.  They  have  cut  down  the  deathrate  in  diphtheria  all  over  the 
civilized  world.  In  19  European  and  American  cities  it  has  fallen 
from  79.9  per  hundred  thousand  of  population  in  1894,  when  the  anti- 
toxin treatment  was  begun,  to  19  deaths  per  hundred  thousand  in 
1905 — less  than  one-quarter  of  the  deathrate  before  the  introduction  of 
the  antitoxin. 

"14.  They  have  reduced  the  mortality  of  the  epidemic  form  of 
cerebro-spinal  meningitis  from  75  or  even  90-odd  per  cent  to  20  per 
cent  and  less. 

"15.  They  have  made  operating  for  goitre  almost  perfectly  safe. 

"16.  They  have  assisted  in  cutting  down  the  death  rate  of  tuber- 
culosis by  from  30  to  50  percent,  for  Koch's  discovery  of  the  tubercle 
bacillus  is  the  cornerstone  of  all  our  modern  sanitary  achievements. 

"17.  In  the  British  Army  and  Navy  they  have  abolished  Malta 
fever,  which,  in  1905,  before  their  researches,  attacked  nearly  1,300 
soldiers  and  sailors.  In  1907  there  were  in  the  army  only  11  cases; 
in  1908,  5  cases ;  in  1909,  1  case. 

"18.  They  have  almost  abolished  childbed  fever,  the  chief  former 
peril  of  maternity,  and  have  reduced  its  mortality  from  5  or  10  up  even 
to  57  in  every  hundred  mothers  to  1  in  1,250  mothers. 

"19.  They  have  very  recently  discovered  a  remedy  which  bids  fair 
to  protect  innocent  wives  and  unborn  children,  besides  many  others 
in  the  community  at  large,  from  the  horrible  curse  of  syphilis. 

"20.  They  have  discovered  a  vaccine  against  typhoid  fever,  which 
among  soldiers  in  camps  has  totally  abolished  typhoid  fever,  as  Presi- 
dent Taft  has  so  recently  and  so  convincingly  stated.  The  improved 
sanitation  which  has  helped  to  do  this  is  itself  largely  the  result  of 
bacteriologic  experimentation. 

"21.  They  are  gradually  nearing  the  discovery  of  the  cause,  and 
then  we  hope  of  the  cure,  of  those  dreadful  scourges  of  humanity, 
cancer,  infantile  paralysis  and  other  children's  diseases.  Who  that 
loves  his  fellow  creatures  would  dare  to  stay  the  hands  of  the  inen 
who  may  lift  the  curse  of  infantile  paralysis,  scarlet  fever,  and  measles 
from  our  children  and  of  cancer  from  the  whole  race?  If  there  be 
such  cruel  creatures,  enemies  of  our  children  and  of  humanity,  let  them 
stand  up  and  be  counted. 

"22.  As  Sir  Frederick  Treves  has  stated,  it  has  been  by  experi- 
ments on  animals  that  our  knowledge  of  the  pathology,  methods  of 


47 

transmission,  and  the  means  of  treatment  of  the  fatal  'sleeping  sick- 
ness' has  been  obtained  and  is  being  increased. 

"33.  They  have  enormously  benefited  animals  by  discovering  the 
causes  and,  in  many  cases,  the  means  of  preventing  tuberculosis,  rin- 
derpest, anthrax,  glanders,  hog  cholera,  chicken  cholera,  lumpy  jaw, 
and  other  diseases  of  animals,  some  of  which  also  attack  man.  If  suf- 
fering dumb  creatures  could  but  speak,  they,  too,  would  pray  that  this 
good  work  should  still  continue  unhindered." 

On  the  other  hand,  what  have  the  foes  of  experimentation 
achieved  ? 

"1.  Not  a  single  human  life  has  been  saved  by  their  efforts. 

"2.  Not  a  single  beneficent  discovery  has  been  made  by  them. 

"3.  Not  a  single  disease  has  been  abated  or  abolished  by  them, 
either  in  animals  or  man. 

"4.  All  that  they  have  done  is  to  resist  progress — to  spend  S-500,- 

000  in  30  years  in  Great  Britain  alone,  and  very  large  amounts  of 
money  in  the  United  States — and  to  conduct  a  campaign  of  abuse  and 
gross  misrepresentation. 

"5.  They  apparently  care  little  or  nothing  for  the  continued  suf- 
fering and  death  of  human  beings,  the  grief  and  not  seldom  the  ensuing 
poverty  of  their  families,  provided  that  26  out  of  every  1,000  dogs 
and  cats,  monkeys  and  guinea  pigs,  mice  and  frogs  experimented  on 
shall  escape  some  physical  suffering. 

"6.  They  insist,  therefore,  that  all  experimental  research  on  ani- 
mals shall  stop,  and — astounding  cruelty — that  thousands  of  human 
beings  shall  continue  year  after  year  to  sufTer  and  to  die." 

ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  MEDICAL  CORPS  OF  THE  ARMY 
IN  PREVENTIVE  MEDICINE. 

A  VINDICATION  OF  ANIMAL  EXPERIMENTATION. 

By 

George  B.  Foster,  Jr.,  M.  D.,  Dr.  P.  H. 

Major,  Medical  Corps,  U.  S.  Army. 

I  have  been  asked  to  discuss  animal  experimentation  in  its  relation 
to  the  advances  that  have  been  made  in  preventive  medicine  through 
the  work  of  military  surgeons. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  approach  this  subject  in  a  controversial 
way,  as  I  feel  that  the  scientific  achievements  of  the  Medical  Corps  of 
the  Army  ofifer,  in  themselves,  an  argument  that  is  incontrovertible. 

1  shall  endeavor  to  outline  briefly  two  of  the  more  important  problems 
that  have  been  solved,  leaving  entirely  to  your  judgment  the  question 
as  to  whether  they  have  contributed  to  the  safety,  happiness,  and  pros- 
perity of  mankind. 


4-8 

In  considering  the  relation  that  animal  experimentation— and  lab- . 
oratory  methods  in  general — bears  to  great  sanitary  triumphs,  one 
must  remember  that  no  great  achievement  has  been  the  work  of  one 
man  or  of  one  institution.  To  Marshal  Foch  has  been  attributed  the 
remark  that  "battles  are  won  with  scraps."  This  applies  equally  in  the 
field  of  preventive  medicine.  Magendie,  the  great  French  physiologist,' 
likened  himself  to  a  chiffonier — a  rag-picker — wandering  through  the 
realms  of  science,  picking  up  fragments  of  knowledge,  piecing  them 
together  and  applying  them  to  his  own  problems  as  he  went  along. 

Many  times  the  observations  of  clinicians  at  the  bedside  or  of  epi- 
demiologists in  the  field  furnish  the  clue  that  leads  to  some  epoch- 
making  discovery  in  the  laboratory  ;  while,  au  contraire,  in  innumerable 
instances  the  truths  elucidated  in  laboratories,  applied  practically  by 
sanitarians  and  clinicians,  have  resulted  in  the  conquest  of  disease. 

Now  let  us  see  what  has  been  accomplished. 

Typhoid  Fever. 

The  great  scourge  of  armies  during  the  nineteenth  century  was 
typhoid  fever.  At  the  beginning  of  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  the 
infection  existed  in  every  corps  of  the  German  Army  and  was  epidemic 
in  at  least  one  division.  After  mobilization  the  disease  spread  like 
wild-fire,  especially  among  the  troops  besieging  Metz  and  Paris. 
Within  two  months  after  mobilization  typhoid  had  spread  so  rapidly 
among  some  of  the  German  troops  that  one  man  out  of  every  six 
was  sick  of  this  disease.  The  total  cases  of  typhoid  in  the  German 
Army  during  that  vvar  was  73,396,  or  nearly  10  per  cent  of  the  average 
strength. 

In  the  Afghan  War  of  1878-80  typhoid  fever  developed  at  nearly 
every  station  occupied  by  British  troops,  although  some  of  these  re- 
gions were  practical^  uninhabited. 

During  the  Oran  campaign,  in  1885,  the  French  troops  camped  in 
desert  stations  never  before  occupied,  and  yet  typhoid  fever  not  only 
occurred,  but  the  outbreaks  assumed  the  proportions  of  alarming 
epidemics. 

Many  similar  instances  might  be  cited  where  troops  were  furnished 
drinking  water  of  unimpeachable  quality  and  occupied  ideal  cainp  sites 
that  could  not  possibly  have  been  typhoid  polluted  previously,  yet 
typhoid  invariably  occurred. 

The  only  explanation  of  such  outbreaks  is  that  an  army  carries  its 
typhoid  with  it  in  the  form  of  mild  undetected  cases,  or  of  the  so-called 
"healthy  carriers"  of  the  disease — individuals  who  have  had  typhoid 
and  recovered,  but  who  still  harbor  and  excrete  from  their  intestinal 
tracts  virulent  typhoid  germs  capable  of  infecting  others.  The  infec- 
tion is  then  passed  on  from  man  to  man  by  direct  or  through  some  in- 
termediary— the  usual  intermediaries  being,  as  we  now  know,  "food, 
fintjers  and  flies." 


In  our  Civil  War  the  army  suffered  severely  from  typhoid,  espe- 
cially the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  In  the  four  years  between  July  1, 
1862,  and  June  30,  1866,  there  were  57,400  cases,  resulting  in  5,360 
deaths. 

Another  tragic  page  in  medical  history  is  that  of  typhoid  fever  in 
the  Spanish  War. Every  regiment  constituting  the  First,  Second,  Third, 
Fourth,  Fifth  and  Seventh  Army  Corps  developed  the  disease.  More 
than  90  per  cent  of  the  volunteer  regiments  were  heavily  infected 
within  eight  weeks  after  going  into  camp.  Typhoid  was  almost  equally 
prevalent  in  some  of  the  regular  regiments.  The  disease  occurred  in 
small  camps  as  well  as  large,  and  in  the  north  as  well  as  in  the  south. 
There  were  20,738  cases  in  a  little  army  of  107,973  men ;  nearly  one- 
fifth  of  the  army  contracting  the  disease.  The  toll  paid  to  typhoid  in 
that  war  was  1,580  lives,  or  86  per  cent  of  the  mortality  from  all  causes. 
Had  the  war  been  a  real  one  with  a  powerful  enemy  at  our  doors, 
military  effort  would  have  been  largely  frustrated,  we  would  have  been 
subjected  to  invasion  and  perhaps  ultimately  to  defeat. 

Remembering  that  what  has  just  been  said  applies  to  armies  in  the 
pre-vaccination  days,  let  us  pass  on  for  a  moment  to  a  brief  considera- 
tion of  the  development  of  preventive  inoculation  against  typhoid  fever. 
From  the  discovery  of  the  typhoid  bacillus  in  1880,  and  its  suc- 
cessful cultivation  in  artificial  media  by  Gaffky,  a  Prussian  army  sur- 
geon, in  1884,  the  investigation  of  methods  for  the  control  of  typhoid 
fever  have  been  greatly  advanced  by  the  work  of  army  surgeons ;  the 
whole  matter  of  protective  inoculation — experimental  and  applied — 
having  been  elucidated  for  the  most  part  in  armies. 

Widal,  a  French  army  surgeon,  working  with  Chantemesse  in 
1888,  first  demonstrated  that  white  mice  could  be  made  immune  to  the 
pathogenic  effects  of  the  typhoid  bacillus  by  previously  inoculating  them 
beneath  the  skin  with  sterilized  cultures.  Incidentally,  while  conduct- 
ing these  experiments,  Widal  discovered  the  phenomenon  of  aggluti- 
nation of  bacteria  in  immune  serum — a  reaction  now  bearing  his  name 
and  of  great  value  in  the  laboratory  diagnosis  of  typhoid  and  other 
diseases. 

Carrying  further  the  work  of  Widal,  Sir  Almroth  Wright,  of  Dub- 
lin, Ireland,  a  British  Army  officer  and  professor  of  pathology  at  the 
Army  Medical  School  at  Netley,  after  much  preliminary  experimental 
work  on  laboratory  animals,  demonstrated  for  the  first  time,  in  1896-97, 
through  the  results  obtained  in  the  experimental  inoculation  of  over 
3,000  soldiers  in  India,  that  vaccination  of  man  was  practicable.  Dur- 
ing the  following  three  years  the  lessons  were  applied  practically  in  the 
preventive  inoculation  of  the  British  troops  in  South  Africa. 

In  1909,  preventive  inoculation  against  typhoid  was  introduced  in 
our  army  by  Major  (now  Colonel)  F.  F.  Russell,  Medical  Corps.  He 
went  to  Europe,  studiously  investigated  the  French,  British  and  Ger- 
man methods  in  vogue  at  the  time,  and,  returning  to  the  Army  Medical 


50 

School  in  this  city,  organized  and  established  a  vaccine  laboratory,  in 
which  all  the  vaccine  since  used  by  our  army  has  been  prepared.  Each 
batch  of  this  vaccine  is  carefully  tested  for  sterility  by  injection  into 
mice,  and  its  immunizing  properties  are  ascertained  by  the  inoculation, 
of  rabbits.  These  animals  are  indispensable  to  the  standardization  of 
the  vaccine. 

At  the  beginning  vaccination  was  voluntary — the  first  volunteers 
being  officers  and  enlisted  men  of  the  Medical  Department — and  only 
a  part  of  the  entire  army  was  vaccinated  during  this  period.  It  was 
first  made  compulsory  for  the  20,000  men  mobilized  as  the  Maneuver 
Division  at  San  Antonio,  Texas,  in  the  spring  of  1911.  During  the 
months  that  these  20,000  men  lived  under  war  conditions  there  were 
but  two  cases  of  typhoid  fever  among  them — one  occurring  in  a  non- 
.  vaccinated  civilian  teamster  and  the  other  in  a  Hospital  Corpsman,  who 
confessed  to  me  while  ill  that  he  had  only  received  one  of  the  three 
inoculations  prescribed,  and  that  he  had  evaded  the  remaining  two  by 
falsifying  the  records.  Following  this  conclusive  demonstration  of  the 
efficacy  of  protective  inoculation  the  procedure  was  made  compulsory 
for  the  entire  army  in  1912.  In  1909  there  were  173  cases  of  typhoid 
in  the  army,  while  in  1912,  the  first  year  that  inoculation  became  uni- 
versally compulsory,  the  statistics  dropped  to  nine  cases  with  a  single 
death.  The  peace-time  army  from  then  on  remained  practically  free 
from  typhoid. 

Now  we  come  to  the  recent  World  War.  Let  us  consider  the 
statistics  of  the  American  Army,  now  protected  by  anti-typhoid  vacci- 
nation. Prefacing  these  statistics,  however,  I  desire  to  bring  home  the 
fact  that,  with  the  exception  that  these  troops  had  been  immunized  by 
protective  inoculation,  conditions  favoring  the  development  of  typhoid 
were  exceedingly  comparable  to  those  existing  in  the  Spanish  War. 
The  army  was  composed  almost  entirely  of  troops  hastily  drafted  from 
civil  pursuits- — comparable  to  the  volunteers  of  1898 — and  the  citizeh 
soldiers  of  the  National  Guard.  They  were  hastily  mobilized  and  sent 
to  camps,  many  of  which  geographically  were  in  close  proximity  to 
the  plague  spots  of  '98,  and  in  many  instances  adequate  sanitary  ar- 
rangements had  not  been  completed  before  the  arrival  of  troops. 

That  portion  of  the  army  that  subsequently  went  to  France  suf- 
fered great  overcrowding  for  many  days  in  improvised  transports, 
and,  upon  arrival  at  ports  of  debarkation,  were  herded  into  box  cars 
and  rushed  to  the  front.  The  earlier  troops,  during  the  fall  of  1917 
and  winter  of  1917-18,  were  billeted  in  insanitary  surroundings,  the 
condition  of  which  can  be  appreciated  only  by  those  who  were  there. 
I  remember  the  very  amusing  incident  of  a  French  peasant  woman  in- 
dignantly demanding  that  the  American  soldiers  billeted  in  her  barn 
be  removed  as  they  talked  at  night  and  kept  the  sheep  awake.  The 
proximity  of  outhouses  to  water  supplies  may  be  imagined  from  the 
request  made  by  the  peasants  in  another  locality  that  the  Americans 


51 

interdict  the  use  of  disinfectants  in  their  latrines  as  this  procedure 
imparted  a  disagreeable  taste  to  their  drinking  water. 

The  conditions  in  the  trenches  would  have  been  a  sanitary  re- 
proach had  it  been  possible  to  correct  them.  Later,  as  trench  warfare 
developed  into  open  battles  of-  movement,  the  troops  at  times  lived 
under  sanitary  conditions  that  are  indescribable.  At  Chateau-Thierry, 
for  example,  our  troops  moved  into  territory  just  evacuated  by  the 
retreating  Germans  that  were  nasty  beyond  description — dead  bodies, 
dead  horses,  pools  of  feces  and  myriads  of  flies.  In  the  Argonne, 
transportation  difficulties,  the  nature  of  the  terrain,  and  the  dispersion 
of  troops  often  made  it  impossible  to  furnish  properly  treated  water 
at  all  times,  and  the  troops  drank  from  stagnant  pook,  collections  of 
water  in  shell  holes  and  whatnot. 

Nor  were  the  troops  stationed  in  towns  in  the  rear  free  from 
danger  of  infection.  Systematic  bacteriological  exanimation  of  the 
water  supplies  in  various  parts  of  France  showed  that  over  80  per  cent 
of  these  were  polluted  and  not  fit  for  drinking  purposes  without  pre- 
vious chlorination  or  boiling.  In  many  instances  the  water  was 
veritable  sewage  and  could  not  be  used  even  after  treatment. 

Yet,  during  the  two  years  of  the  World  War,  in  which  approxi- 
mately 4,000,000  men  served  in  the  Army,  half  of  whom  saw  service 
in  France,  there  were  but  1,065  cases  of  typhoid  fever.  In  the  Spanish 
War  there  occurred  one  case  of  typhoid  among  each  six  men ;  in  this 
war  one  case  in  every  3,756  men.  The  official  statistics  of  the  Sur- 
geon General's  Office  for  the  period  September  1,  1917,  to  May  2,  1919, 
show  that  there  were  but  213  deaths  from  this  disease.  Had  the  death 
rates  of  the  Spanish  War  prevailed,  51,133  deaths  would  have  occurred, 
and  had  the  Civil  War  rates  applied,  68,164  lives  would  have  been 
sacrificed. 

We  of  the  Army  Aledical  Corps  are  thrilled  with  pride  at  this 
achievement  of  one  of  our  colleagues.  The  mothers,  wives,  sisters 
and  sweethearts  of  the  50,000  men  whose  lives  were  saved  by  anti- 
typhoid vaccination  should  breathe  a  prayer  thanking  God  that  there 
was  a  Russell — and  animal  experimentation. 

These  are  the  results  of  preventive  inoculation  against  typhoid 
fever.  I  ask  you,  do  they  compensate  for  the  lives  of  the  laboratory 
animals  sacrificed  experimentally  in  perfecting  this  procedure  ? 

Yellow  Fever. 

Perhaps  the  most  spectacular  achievement  of  the  Medical  Corps 
of  the  Army  is  the  epoch-making  discovery  of  the  transmission  of 
yellow  fever  by  the  mosquito. 

Yellow  fever,  peculiarly  a  disease  of  the  American  continent,  is 
one  of  the  most  fatal  to  which  the  human  race  is  subject.  The  early 
colonists  suft"ered  severely  from  this  disease,  and  it  had  an  important 


bearing  upon  colonization  in  the  Western  Hemisphere.  Its  ravages 
in  tropical  America  made  this  section  a  veritable  plague  spot  for  white . 
men,  resulting  in  the  settlement  and  development  of  the  temperate 
regions  rather  than  the  tropics.  Untold  agricultural  and  mineral; 
wealth  was  diverted  from  the  world's  markets  for  1-50  years  by  this 
grim  reaper  of  human  lives.  As  Vaughan  so  graphically  states,  "A 
certain  dread  and  romance  attaches  to  its  history." 

Formerly  the  disease  existed  perpetually  in  Havana,  and  from 
there  it  made  frequent  devastating  incursions  into  the  United  States. 
Outbreaks  occurred  along  the  eastern  seaboard  as  far  north  as  Boston. 
It  wrought  its  greatest  havoc,  however,  in  the  Southern  cities,  where, 
during  the  great  epidemic  of  1878 — only  43  years  ago — 16,000  persons 
died,  and  the  economic  loss  was  estimated  at  $100,000,000.  This 
catastrophe  focused  public  attention  for  a  time  and  resulted  in  the 
birth  of  a  National  Board  of  Health  to  protect  the  United  States  from 
another  invasion. 

As  most  of  the  epidemics  that  had  visited  the  United  States  were 
imported  from  Havana,  it  was  evident  to  sanitarians  that  great  pro- 
tection would  be  afiforded  the  United  States  were  it  possible  to  eradi- 
cate yellow  fever  at  its  source.  The  opportunity  so  long  desired 
arrived  when  Havana  came  into  our  possession  in  1898. 

At  this  time  nothing  was  definitely  known  as  to  the  cause  of 
yellow  fever,  or  the  means  of  its  transmission.  Sanarelli,  an  Italian 
doctor,  had  just  announced  the  discovery  of  an  organism  which  he 
called  Bacillus  icteroides,  and  he  claimed  it  as  the  specific  cause  of 
this  disease.  Immediately  keen  interest  was  evinced  in  this  discovery, 
and  General  George  M.  Sternberg,  Surgeon  General  of  the  Army,  him- 
self a  pioneer  investigator  in  yellow  fever,  who  had  paved  the  way  for 
subsequent  workers,  appointed  an  Army  Board,  consisting-  of  Maj. 
Walter  Reed  and  Dr.  James  Carroll,  to  investigate  and  report  upon 
the  relation  of  bacillus  icteroides  to  yellow  fever.  This  was  in  1897. 
Reed  and  Carroll,  through  numerous  experiments  on  swine  and  other 
animals,  proved  conclusively  that  Sanarelli's  bacillus  is  a  variety  of 
the  common  hog  cholera  bacillus  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  yellow 
fever. 

In  1899,  when  yellow  fever  appeared  among  the  American  troops 
stationed  in  Havana,  Reed  and  Carroll  again,  with  Drs.  J.  W.  Lazear 
and  Aristides  Agramonte,  constituted  a  commission  sent  to  Cuba  to 
investigate  its  cause  and  transmission. 

Shortly  after  arrival  Reed  was  afforded  an  opportunity  to  study 
an  epidemic  of  yellow  fever  among  our  troops  at  Pinar  del  Rio,  and 
he  became  convinced,  through  his  observations  there,  that  the  theory 
then  governing  all  preventive  measures,  that  transmission  occurred 
through  infected  utensils,  clothing,  bedding,  etc.,  was  erroneous.  He 
determined  to  give  up,  for  the  time  being,  further  search  for  the  spe- 
cific cause  of  the  disease  and  to  devote  all  his  efiforts  to  the  immediate 


53 


pressing  need  of  the  elucidation  of  the  means  of  transmission  in  order 
that  effectual  preventive  measures  might  be  instituted. 

The  belief  that  the  disease  was  transmitted  by  mosquitoes,  ex- 
pressed by  Dr.  Carlos  Finlay,  of  Havana,  nearly  twenty  years  before, 
appealed  to  Reed  as  the  most  logical  theory  to  investigate.  The  only 
way  of  proving  or  disproving  this  theory  was  to  permit  infected  mos- 
quitoes to  bite  susceptible  persons  as  laboratory  animals  were  thought 
to  be  immune.  After  weighing  the  terrible  responsibility  of  carrying 
out  such  experiments  on  human  beings,  the  commission  decided  that 
if  they  succeeded  in  transmitting  the  disease  experimentally  through 
mosquitoes,  the  benefit  to  humanity  would  justify  the  hazard.  They 
agreed,  however,  that  in  justice  and  fairness  they  themselves  should 
be  included  among  the  volunteers. 

Female  mosquitoes  of  the  variety  known  as  stegomyia  fasciata 
were  obtained  from  Dr.  Finlay,  infected  by  feeding  on  patients  acutely 
ill  with  yellow  fever,  and  then  applied  to  the  volunteers.  The  first 
experiments  were  carried  out  by  Lazear  as  Reed  had  been  recalled 
temporarily  to  the  United  States.  Lazear's  first  atteinpt  to  infect 
himself  was  unsuccessful.  Later  he  was  bitten  by  a  mosquito  while 
collecting  blood  from  a  patient  in  a  yellow  fever  ward,  and  he  purposely 
jjermitted  the  mosquito  to  take  his  fill.  Several  days  later  he  became 
ill  of  yellow  fever  and  died.  In  the  meantime  Lazear  had  applied 
infected  mosquitoes  to  Carroll,  and  this  resulted  in  the  first  successful 
experimental  inoculation.  It  can  best  be  described  in  the  words  of 
Carroll  himself : 

"The  insect,  which  had  been  hatched  and  reared  in  the  laboratory, 
had  been  caused  to  feed  upon  four  cases  of  yellow  fever,  two  of  them 
severe  and  two  mild.  The  first  patient,  a  severe  case,  was  bitten  twelve 
days  before,  the  second,  third  and  fourth  patients  had  been  bitten  six, 
four  and  two  days  previously,  and  their  attacks  were  mild,  severe  and 
mild,  respectively.  In  writing  to  Dr.  Reed  on  the  night  after  the 
incident,  I  remarked  jokingly  that  if  there  were  anything  in  the  mos- 
quito theory  I  should  have  a  good  dose ;  and  so  it  happened.  After 
having  slight  premonitory  symptoms  for  two  days,  I  was  taken  sick 
on  August  31,  and  on  September  1,  I  was  carried  to  the  yellow  fever 
camp.  My  life  was  in  the  balance  for  three  days,  and  my  chart  shows 
that  on  the  fifth,  sixth  and  seventh  days  my  urine  contained  eight-tenths 
and  nine-tenths  of  moist  albumin.  On  the  day  that  I  was  taken  sick, 
August  31,  1900,  Dr.  Lazear  applied  the  same  mosquito,  with  three 
others,  to  another  individual  who  suffered  a  comparatively  mild  attack, 
and  was  well  before  I  left  my  bed.  Thus  it  happened  that  I  was  the 
first  person  to  whom  the  mosquito  was  proved  to  convey  the  disease. 
On  the  eighteenth  day  of  September,  five  days  after  I  was  permitted 
to  leave  my  bed.  Dr.  Lazear  was  stricken  and  died  in  convulsions  jusf 
one  week  later,  after  several  days  of  delirium  with  black  vomit.  Such 
is  yellow  fever." 


This  experiment  on  Dr.  Carroll  was  followed  by  eleven  others, 
nine  of  which  were  negative  and  two  positive,  and,  upon  this  evidence' 
Reed  felt  justified  in  pronouncing,  without  hesitatiton,  that  "the  mos- 
quito acts  as  the  intermediate  host  for  the  parasite  of  yellow  fever."-    " 

The  experiments  did  not  stop  here,  however.  The  idea  of  mos- 
quito transmission  was  contrary  to  what  a  great  many  men  believed, 
and  it  aroused  a  storm  of  adverse  comment  and  criticism.  Reed  and 
his  colleagues  decided,  therefore,  to  repeat  and  simplify  the  experiments 
under  conditions  that  would  leave  no  doubt  as  to  their  conclusiveness. 
They  established  an  experimental  station,  a  mile  removed  from  the 
nearest  habitations,  and  surrounded  it  with  an  armed  guard.  No 
intercourse  was  permitted  with  the  town  except  through  an  immune 
ambulance  driver  and  an  immune  hospital  steward  who  transported 
supplies  from  Camp  Columbia.  The  personnel  and  such  susceptible 
individuals  as  were  admitted  for  experimentation  were  sheltered  in 
tents  placed  twenty  feet  apart.  This  station  was  named  Camp  Lazear. 
A  small  frame  building  was  built,  14  x  20  feet,  so  screened  with-  wire 
netting  that  mosquitoes  could  not  get  in  or  out.  The  interior  of  the 
building  was  divided  into  two  compartments  by  a  partition  made  of 
wire  netting  running  down  the  center.  Two  susceptible  persons  were 
put  in  this  building — one  in  each  compartment.  Breathing  the  same 
air  and  subjected  in  every  way  to  the  same  conditions ;  biit  entirely 
separated  by  the  wire  netting,  they  lived  and  slept  in  these  compart- 
ments for  several  days  to  show  that  there  was  no  yellow  fever  infection 
in  the  building.  Reed  then  put  fifteen  infected  mosquitoes  in  one  of 
the  compartments,  left  a  man  in  the  compartment  for  thirty  minutes, 
and  announced  that  this  compartment  was  now  infected.  He  took  the 
man  out  of  this  infected  compartment,  but  left  two  men  in  the  compart- 
ment on  the  other  side  of  the  wire  netting.  The  man  from  the  infected 
compartment  returned  for  twenty  minutes  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same 
days,  and  again,  for  fifteen  minutes  on  the  following  day.  During 
these  three  visits  he  was  bitten  by  mosquitoes  fifteen  times.  At  the 
end  of  the  fourth  day  the  man  from  the  infected  compartment  was 
down  with  yellow  fever  and  the  two  men  who  had  remained  in  the 
other  compartment  separated  only  by  the  wire  netting  and  breathing 
the  same  air,  were  perfectly  well. 

Reed  then  announced  that  he  would  disinfect  the  infected  com- 
partment simply  by  catching  and  removing  the  fifteen  mosquitoes. 
Following  the  removal  of  the  infected  mosquitoes  a  nonimmune  soldier 
was  again  placed  in  each  compartment,  left  there  several  days  and  they 
remained  perfectly  well. 

Although  the  experiment  created  a  profound  impression  and  the 
skeptics  now  admitted  that  the  disease  could  be  transmitted  by  the 
mosquito,  they  still  maintained'  that  it  could  be,  and  generally  was 
transmitted  in  other  ways,  such  as  by  soiled  clothing,  bedding,  and  by 
contact  with  persons  sick  with  the  disease,  etc. 


Reed  then  had  constructed  another  small  building  that  was  almost 
air-tight — practically  devoid  of  ventilation.  In  this  building  he  placed 
material  from  the  yellow  fever  hospital  at  Las  Animas — mattresses  on 
which  yellow  fever  patients  had  died,  sheets,  pillows  and  pillow  cases 
liberally  smeared  with  black  vomit,  excreta  and  discharges ;  and  even 
the  pajamas  worn  by  yellow  fever  patients  throughout  their  illnesses. 
This  material  was  opened  up  and  spread  out  in  this  close  room,  and 
Reed  asked  for  volunteers  to  sleep  in  the  room.  Dr.  R.  P.  Cook,  of 
the  Army,  and  several  soldiers  responded.  These  men  wore  the  paja- 
mas mentioned  and  slept  on  the  bedding  for  twenty. consecutive  nights. 
All  the  men  remained  well — not  a  single  case  of  yellow  fever  developed 
from  this  exposure.  This  demonstrated,  once  and  for  all,  the  fallacy 
of  the  filth  or  fomites  theory  of  the  transmission  of  yellow  fever.  The 
experiments  were  generally  accepted  as  proving  beyond  question  that 
yellow  fever  is  conveyed  from  man  to  man  by  the  mosquito  alone  and 
in  no  other  way. 

The  Board  conducted  further  experiments  demonstrating  that  the 
virus  of  yellow  fever  exists  in  the  patient's  blood  only  during  the  first 
three  days  of  the  disease ;  that  the  virus  is  ultramicroscopic,  being 
capable  of  passing  through  a  porcelain  filter  that  holds  back  ordinary 
bacteria,  and  that  it  is  killed  by  a  temperature  of  55°  C.  in  ten  minutes. 
They  also  showed  that  the  female  mosquito,  only,  can  convey  the  dis- 
ease ;  that  after  biting  an  infected  person  a  period  of  twelve  to  twenty 
days  must  elapse  before  the  mosquito  is  capable  of  transmitting  it  to 
another;  and  that  following  the  bite  another  period  of  from  three  to 
six  days  elapses  before  the  patient  develops  the  disease. 

These  experiments  are  the  foundation  upon  which  all  sanitary 
campaigns  against  yellow  fever  are  now  based.  Let  us  now  consider 
what  they  have  done  for  humanity. 

■  For  nearly  two  years  prior  to  the  conclusion  of  Reed's  experi- 
ments the  Army  had  been  in  entire  control  of  sanitary-  affairs  in  Ha- 
vana. Our  cleverest  sanitarians,  among  them  Victor  C.  Vaughan,  of 
the  University  of  Michigan,  probably  the  foremost  American  epidemi- 
ologist, had  failed  dismally  in  controlling  yellow  fever  by  means  of 
methods  based  on  the  filth  theory  of  disease. 

Following  Reed's  demonstration  that  the  disease  is  transmitted 
solely  by  the  mosquito,  the  sanitarians  paid  no  more  attention  to 
fomites,  but  proceeded  to  apply  practically  Reed's  experimental  evi- 
dence in  the  following  ways:  (1)  A  strict  quarantine  was  established 
to  keep  infected  persons  from  entering  the  city.  (2)  A  daily  inspec- 
tion of  all  nonimmune  persons  was  made  in  order  to  detect  new  cases 
during  the  first  three  days  of  the  disease — the  only  period,  you  will 
remember,  during  which  the  virus  is  in  the  blood.  (3)  All  persons 
sick  of  yellow  fever  were  immediately  screened  and  isolated  so  that 
mosquitoes  could  not  bite  them.  (4)  A  vigorous  antimosquito  .cam- 
paign was  instituted  aiming  at  the  destruction  of  all  mosquitoes — kill- 


56 

ing  the  insects  in  habitations  by  wholesale  fumigation  and  energeti- 
cally searching  out  and  doing  away  with  their  breeding  places. 

Considerable  effort,  anxiety  and  experimentation  were  extended 
in  perfecting  the  methods,  but  on  September  26,  1901,  seven  months! 
after  the;  institution  of  these  methods,  the  last  case  of  yellow  fever 
occurred,  and  Havana  was  free  from  this  disease  for  the  first  time  in 
140  years.  During  that  140  years  not  a  single  month  had  passed  with- 
out a  death  from  yellow  fever,  nor  had  there  passed  a  day  in  which 
there  had  not  been  some  person  sick  of  yellow  fever  within  the  city. 

Conquest  of  Yellow  Fever  in  Panama. 

Soon  after  the  conquest  of  yellow  fever  in  Havana,  our  Govern- 
ment began  outlining  plans  for  one  of  the  greatest,  if  not  the  greatest 
engineering  project  in  history — namely,  the  construction  of  the  Pana- 
ma Canal. 

Early  in  1902,  while  still  stationed  in  Havana,  where  he  had  di- 
rected the  sanitary  work  that  had  rid  the  city  of  yellow  fever,  Major 
(now  Ala j or  General,  retired  and  recently  Surgeon  General)  William 
C.  Gorgas,  of  the  Medical  Corps,  invited  General  Sternberg's  attention 
to  the  enormous  loss  of  life  from  tropical  diseases  that  had  occurred 
among  the  French  while  working  at  Panama ;  emphasized  the  fact  that 
these  fatalities  had  resulted  for  the  most  part  from  yellow  fever  and 
malaria;  apd  suggested  that  the  methods  that  had  been  so  effective  in 
Havana,  if  carried  out  in  Panama,  would  greatly  reduce  the  mortality 
that  might  be  anticipated  among  American  workers  on  the  Isthmus. 
General  Sternberg  concurred  in  this  opinion  and  recommended  that 
Major  Gorgas,  on  account  of  his  previous  experience  in  Havana,  be 
placed  in  charge  of  the  sanitary  work  in  Panama. 

The  contemplated  route  of  the  Panama  Canal  lay  through  a  low, 
swampy,  densely  vegetated  country,  alternating  with  rugged  moun- 
tainous regions,  where  the  rainfall  was  excessive  and  yellow  fever  and 
malaria  prevailed  to  an  alarming  extent. 

The  French  attempt,  in  the  eighties,  to  unite  the  waters  of  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  by  this  isthmian  route,  although  directed  by  one 
of  the  greatest  engineering  geniuses  of  all  time — Ferdinand  de  Les- 
seps — had  to  be  given  up  because  of  the  enormous  price  paid  in  human 
lives.  The  French  lost  22,189  laborers  by  death  and  sunk  millions  of 
dollars.  It  is  said  that  the  price  paid  in  building  the  old  Panama  rail- 
road was  a  human  life  for  each  tie  laid.  One  of  the  towns  on  this 
railroad  was  named  Matachin,  from  the  Spanish  words  meaning  "dead 
chinaman,"  because  a  thousand  imported  Chinese  laborers  and  a 
thousand  African  negroes  laid  down  their  lives  at  this  point  in  six 
months.  Colon  at  one  end  of  the  canal  was  a  veritable  white  man's 
graveyard ;  while  the  town  of  Panama  at  the  other  end  bore  the  un- 
savory reputation  ■  of  being  the  plague  spot  of  the  universe.     There 


57 

was  poverty,  there  was  vice,  there  was  every  noisome  thing  that  crawls 
and  creeps.  There  were  pestilences,  and  the  greatest  of  these  were 
yellow  fever  and  malaria — another  mosquito-borne  disease. 

Then  came  Gorgas  with  his  trained  corps  of  sanitarians — fresh 
from  their  victory  in  Havana.  The  story  of  the  sanitation  of  Panama 
under  the  administrative  direction  of  Gorgas  is  a  long  one,  and  I  shall 
not  bore  you  with  details.  Suffice  is  to  state  that  by  instituting  sani- 
tary measures  similar  to  those  used  in  Havana — destroying  mosquitoes, 
making  habitations  and  hospitals  mosquito-proof  by  screening,  isolat- 
ing all  suspected  cases  of  yellow  fever  and  malaria,  removing  under- 
brush, filling  and  obliterating  stagnant  pools  and  swamps,  paving  and 
guttering  streets,  and  installing  sanitary  water  supplies  and  sewerage 
systems,  Gorgas  entirely  eradicated  yellow  fever  within  a  year,  and 
there  has  not  been  a  single  case  of  this  disease  in  the  Canal  Zone  since 
May,  1906.  Coincidentally  with  the  disappearance  of  yellow  fever 
there  was  a  drop  in  the  incidence  of  malaria.  At  the  beginning  of  this 
great  sanitary  campaign  800  cases  of  malaria  occurred  annually  in  each 
thousand  workers.  By  1913  the  rate  had  been  reduced  to  76  per  thou- 
sand. The  general  annual  death  rate  in  the  Canal  Zone  from  all  dis- 
eases at  the  present  time  is  about  20  per  thousand — a  figure  comparing 
very  favorably  with  that  of  New  York  or  Washington. 

The  work  of  Gorgas  alone  made  possible  the  building  of  the 
Panama  Canal.  But  this  is  not  the  greatest  benefit  derived  from  that 
tremendous  task,  so  spectacularly  and  effectively  accomplished.  By 
salvaging  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  through  sanitation  the  great  lesson 
learned  is  that  the  tropics  can  be  made  as  habitable  for  white  men  as 
the  temperate  zone.  How  different  would  have  been  the  history  of 
the  Americas  had  it  been  learned  300  years  earlier. 

In  contemplating  this^^the  greatest  achievement  of  modern  times — 
let  us  not  forget  Walter  Reed — and  experimentation. 

The  triumphs  over  typhoid  and  yellow  fevers  have  not  been  the 
only  scientific  achievements  of  the  Medical  Corps  of  the  Army.  Did 
the  time  allotted  to  me  permit  I  would  tell  you  of  the  work  of  Stern- 
berg, the  first  American  bacteriologist,  discoverer  of  the  diplococcus 
of  pneumonia,  pioneer  worker  in  yellow  fever,  author  of  important 
treatises  on  infection,  immunity  and  disinfection,  founder  of  the  Army 
Medical  School,  and  a  former  surgeon  general  of  the  Army  ;  of  the 
demonstration  by  Ashburn  and  Craig  that  dengue  fever  is  due  to  a 
filterable  virus  and  that  it  is  transmitted  by  the  mosquito  and  amenable 
to  prevention  by  the  methods  successfully  used  in  malaria  and  yellow 
fever ;  and  of  the  work  of  Chamberlain  and  Vedder,  who,  by  experi- 
ments on  fowls,  disarmed  the  tropical  disease  beri-beri — tearing  from 
it  its  mysticism,  robbing  it  of  its  terrors  and  placing  it  in  the  category 
of  curable  as  well  as  preventable  diseases. 

The  conquest  of  hook-worm  disease  in  Porto  Rico,  work  based 
largely  on  the  demonstration  by  experiments  on  animals  that  the  para- 


58 

site  enters  the  body  through  the  skin,  is  the  work  of  Bailey  K.  Ashford, 
a  medical  officer  of  the  Army  and  a  graduate  of  your  own  university — 
Georgetown. 

Many  other  instances  might  be  enumerated  of  scientific  endeavor 
redounding  to  the  benefit  of  humanity.  Those  cited,  however,  should 
be  sufficient  to  show  that  all  advances  in  preventive  medicine  have  their 
basis  in  experimentation — on  animals  as  a  rule,  but  on  men  when 
necessary  and  justifiable. 

Without  animal  experimentation  we  must  inevitably  stagnate,  and 
many  pressing  questions  as  to  the  cause  and  prevention  of  devastating 
epidemics  of  transmissible  diseases — influenza  is  one  of  these — must 
remain  unanswered. 

I  submit  to  you — shall  animal  experimentation  be  prohibited  or  no  ? 


THE  LABORATORY  WORK  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 
PUBLIC  HEALTH  SERVICE. 

By 

A.  AI.  Stimson,  Surgeon,  U.S.  P.  H.  S. 
Assistant  Director,  Hygienic  Laboratory,  Washington,  D.  C. 

In  an  attempt  to  familiarize  you  with  some  of  the  laboratory  re- 
searches of  the  U.  S.  Public  Health  Service,  I  find  it  necessary  to  select 
certain  illustrative  examples  from  an  almost  endless  list.  The  Public 
Health  Service  did  not  launch  into  existence,  on  any  definite  date,  save 
in  name.  Its  development  was  gradual.  From  time  to  time  as  the 
emergency  arose,  Congress  assigned  it  new  duties  and  granted  it  fur- 
ther power.  The  purpose  of  the  Service  in  general  may  be  stated  to 
be  the  promotion  of  public  welfare  by  conserving  and  improving  the 
health  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  country.  In  order  to  carry  out  intel- 
ligently and  efficiently  the  duties  laid  upon  it  by  law,  the  Service  has 
had  to  engage  in  a  great  deal  of  laboratory  work.  In  the  course  of 
this  work  it  has  been  absolutely  essential  to  use  the  lower  animals. 

Before  taking  up  in  detail  a  discussion  of  the  particular  functions 
of  the  Service,  it  is  necessary  to  make  clear  what  is  meant  by  "the 
experimental  method."  If  we  review  the  works  of  the  ancients,  we 
find  that  there  was  no  lack  of  intellectual  acumen  among  them ;  in 
literature  and  in  the  arts  they  give  abundant  evidence  of  high  mental 
powers.  Why  was  it,  then,  that  in  matters  of  science  they  made  very 
little)  progress,  and  that  for  centuries  medical  science  especially  was 
in  a  state  of  almost  complete  stagnation  ?  The  difference,  I  believe,  is 
readily  traceable  to  the  lack  of  proper  methods.     Just  as  in  mathe- 


59 

matics  the  lack  of  the  calculus  prevented  the  solution  of  a  certain  math- 
ematical problem,  so  in  the  physical  sciences  the  lack  of  the  experi- 
mental method  effectually  barred  the  door  to  progress.  We  can  easily 
imagine  that  primitive  man  was  satisfied  with  the  explanation  of  a 
thunderstorm  that  it  was  due  to  a  combat  between  devils  fighting  above 
the  clouds.  His  explanation  of  disease  was  akin  to  this  with  the  one 
exception  that  the  conflict  was  limited  to  his  own  interior.  In  ancient 
India  the  Brahmins  have  accumulated  some  very  interesting  anatomical 
information ;  for  example,  they  stated  that  in  the  human  body  there  are 
100,000  vessels,  each  divided  into  seven  tubes,  which  carry  ten  different 
kinds  of  gases  to  all  portions  of  the  body.  Moreover,  the  origin  of 
the  pulse  they  located  in  the  abdomen ;  it  was  said  to  be  two  hands  high 
and  three  hands  wide,  and  from  it  little  tubes  radiate  to  all  parts  of 
the  body.  When  Greece  was  in  her  prime  her  philosophers  had  elab- 
orated a  most  intricate  system  of  medical  doctrine ;  indeed,  their  theo- 
ries curried  favor  far  down  into  the  period  following  the  Rennaissance. 
Disease  was  due  to  the  conflict  of  various  humors  and  spirits  which  cir- 
culated throughout  the  body.  It  will  be  noted  that  all  of  the  philos- 
ophers up  to  this  time  had  approached  disease  from  a  purely  theoreti- 
cal standpoint.  Investigation  on  the  body  by  dissection  and  experi- 
ment had  been  resorted  to  very  rarely  and  very  superficially,  and  the 
practical  knowledge  of  the  prevention  and  cure  of  disease  was,  to  all 
purposes,  negligible. 

Let  us  contrast  this  mode  of  introspective  philosophy  with  the 
method  used  by  William  Harvey,  discover  of  the  circulation  of  the 
blood.  This  great  scientist,  who  was  one  of  the  earliest  to  use  the 
experimental  method  in  its  perfection,  actually  dissected  the  body  of 
man  and  of  the  lower  animals ;  he  conducted  experiments  on  the  living 
bodies  of  animals,  and  only  after  he  had  carried  on  his  investigations 
for  more  than  ten  years  did  he  venture  to  make  public  the  results. 
These  findings  were  so  at  variance  with  the  accepted  doctrines  which 
had  been  handed  down  from  the  Greeks  that  Harvey  was  derided  and 
maligned,  but  it  is  gratifying  to  note  that  within  his  own  lifetime  his 
views  were  accepted  and  his  practices  emulated.  The  remarkable 
progress  of  recent  years  in  the  medical  sciences  is  directly  tracealile  to 
the  methods  of  experimental  investigation  introduced  by  William  Har- 
vey and  other  men  of  courage  who  were  unwilling  to  sponsor  unsup- 
ported tradition  and  who  had  to  see  with  their  own  eyes  before  they 
tabulated  conclusions. 

The  U.  S.  Public  Health  Service  has,  of  course,  found  much  of 
its  information  concerning  disease  ready  made.  Other  data  it  has 
established  by  experimental  methods,  and  it  is  important  to  see  that 
not  only  in  beginning  work  related  to  public  health  is  it  necessary  to 
use  information  gleaned  from  experimental  methods  involving  the  use 
of  animals,  but  that  in  the  actual  continuation  of  the  work  after  routine 
■  fashion,  it  is  imperative  to  rely  upon  the  same. 


60  ■  • 

Bubonic  Plague. 

I  have  selected  as  the  first  illustration  of  the  laboratory  work  of  ■ 
the  Service  its  operations  in  connection  with  a  disease  which  probably 
has  solicited  the  attention  of  but  very  few  persons  in  this  audience. 
Bubonic  plague,  to  the  average  person,  is  looked  upon  as  a  distant,  tropi- 
cal, exotic  disease  little  to  be  worried  about,  and  my  reason  for  select- 
ing it  is  the  fact  that  were  it  not  for  the  employment  of  methods  which 
were  learned  from  experimentation  this  plague  might  very  well  be  in 
our  midst  today.  Daniel  Defoe  has  handed  us  a  pen  picture  of  a 
plague  epidemic  in  London ;  that  this  was  not  overdrawn  has  subse- 
quently been  proven  by  many  historic  recurrences.  Fancy  a  city  dis- 
tracted, the  inhabitants  rushing  about  in  a  frantic  effort  to  escape 
the  pestilence,  only  to  be  met  at  the  borders  of  the  city  by  armed  guards 
stationed  to  prevent  their  exit ;  unburied  bodies  line  the  streets  and 
abandoned  children  are  left  to  starve ;  traffic  and  commerce  is  dis- 
organized, famine  follows  close  upon  pestilence.  Such  occurred  in 
the  days  before  science  pointed  out  the  cause  of  the  plague  and  of  its 
spread  and  suggested  a  rational,  effectual  mode  of  combating  the 
disease. 

At  the  present  time  there  is  an  infection  of  this  plague  in  one  of 
our  larger  American  cities,  yet  no  panic  reigns,  tourists  visit  the  city 
in  large  numbers,  and  all  is  apparently  prosperous.  This  because  there 
is  constantly  being  carried  on  in  that  city  a  quiet,  eft'ective  campaign 
to  meet  the  emergency.  The  experimental  investigations  have  shown 
that  plague  is  essentially  a  disease  of  rats ;  that  it  is  conveyed  from  rat 
to  rat,  and  may  be  communicated  from  rat  to  man  through  the  flea. 
With  this  known  it  is  found  to  be  practicable  to  prevent  the  spread 
of  plague  by  systematic  examinations  of  rats  captured  in  all  portions 
of  the  city.  When  a  plague  rat  is  trapped  intensive  antirat  operations 
are  carried  on  at  the  place  where  this  rat  was  apprehended,  and  thus 
an  incipient  focus  of  plague  infection  is  wiped  out  before  gaining  head- 
way. The  claim  that  general  methods  of  sanitation  will  effectually 
prevent  plague  epidemics  is  unsubstantiated ;  they  merely  limit  rat 
infestation. 

Diphtheria. 

Turning  now  to  a  disease  more  familiar  to  us  I  shall  review  the 
work  of  the  Service  on  diphtheria.  Diphtheria  continues  to  be  preva- 
lent, chiefly  because  the  germ  which  causes  it  may  be  carried  about 
in  the  noses  and  throats  of  perfectly  healthy  persons.  Since  it  is  im- 
possible to  examine  an  entire  population  in  order  to  discover  who  these 
so-called  "carriers"  are,  and  since  it  would  be  impossible  to  quarantine 
them  all  when  apprehended,  the  efforts  of  health  officials  have  been  only 
in   Dart   successful   toward   eliminating   the   disease,   but   by   method? 


61 

which  were  devised  by  animal  experimentation  it  is  possible  to  reduce 
the  death  rate  from  this  disease  to  a  very  favorable  hgure.  For  ex- 
ample, the  method  of  making  an  early  diagnosis  by  laboratory  methods 
has  enabled  us  to  treat  cases  earlier  and  more  effectually  and  to  pre- 
vent infection  of  those  who  associate  with  these  cases.  Diphtheria 
antitoxin  also  is  one  of  the  most  remarkably  efficient  remedies  known 
to  man.  But  suppose  no  supervision  were  exercised  over  the  manu- 
facture of  this  antitoxin,  and  that  inert  and  worthless  samples  of  the 
product  were  freely  marketed,  we  can  readily  estimate  how  many 
lives  would  in  consequence  be  sacrificed.  The  Pubhc  Health  Service 
controls  the  manufacture  of  antitoxin,  making  sure,  by  methods  of 
animal  experimentation,  that  this  product  as  it  is  sold  in  the  drug  store 
is  potent  and  reliable.  Furthermore,  by  animal  experimentation  a 
method  has  been  devised  for  examining  the  bacteria  which  cling  to  the 
throats  of  patients  following  their  convalescense  to  determine  whether 
they  are  dangerous  to  others  or  not. 

Serums  and  Vaccines. 

The  Service  supervises  in  like  manner  the  commercial  production 
of  many  other  serums  and  vaccines  which  are  used  for  the  treatment  of 
various  diseases.  I  may  mention  in  this  connection  the  serum  for 
tetanus,  or  lockjaw,  through  which  many  a  soldier  in  the  trenches 
was  saved  to  the  nation.  Typhoid  vaccine,  a  product  of  great  efficiency, 
is  standardized  by  methods  in  which  animals  are  used ;  rabies  vaccine 
more  familiarly  known  as  the  Pasteur,  treatment  for  Hydrophobia,  is 
prepared  by  the  Service,  and  its  preparation  necessitated  the  use  of 
animals.  This  list  might  be  prolonged  indefinitely,  but  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  there  is  scarcely  any  useful  product  of  this  general  class  which 
has  not  necessitated  the  experimental  use  of  animals,  either  in  its  dis- 
covery, in  its  preparation,  or  in  its  standardization.  ^    - 

At  the  present  time  there  is  being  conducted  throughout  the  United"" 
States  an  energetic  crusade  against  venereal  diseases.  While  these 
diseases  involve  a  moral  problem  for  all,  to  the  sanitarian  they  present 
also  a  purely  medical  problem.  Hence  it  is  essential  that  every  person 
known  to  be  infected  from  syphilis  should  be  treated  to  prevent  his 
being  a  menace  to  those  with  whom  he  may  come  in  contact.  To  effect 
this  arsphenamine  is  preeminently  efficient.  The  preparation  of  this 
substance  is  difficult,  and,  unless  the  greatest  care  is  taken,  a  product 
may  be  issued  for  distribution  which  is  unduly  poisonous  and  would,  if- 
administered  to  patients,  beget  most  disastrous  results.  The  Public 
Health  Service  is  charged  with  the  duty  of  examining  each  batch 
of  this  substance  offered  for  sale.  To  do  this  the  lower  animals  must 
be  used. 

From  time  to  time  reports  reach  the  Bureau  of  the  U.  S.  Pubhc 
Health  Service  of  the  occurrence,  in  this  or  that  part  of  the  country,  of 


62 

a  new  or  rare  disease.  This  calls  for  an  immediate  investigation  to 
ascertain  whether  this  condition  is  likely  to  spread  and  become  serious, 
or  possibly  to  end  in  a  nation-wide  menace.  Such  have  been  pellagra, 
Rocky  Mountain  spotted  fever,  the  so-called  "deer-fly  disease,"  and  a 
disease  called  after  its  discoverer.  Dr.  Brill.  In  nearly  all  of  these 
instances  it  was  imperative  to  make  extensive  inoculations  of  animals 
in  order  to  determine  the  nature  and  cause  of  the  disease,  to  find  out 
what  animals  beside  man  might  be  afflicted  with  it,  and,  in  some  in- 
stances, to  devise  a  remedial  agent.  During  the  war  a  considerable 
number  of  cases  of  anthrax,  or  malignant  pustule,  occurred  among 
soldiers,  and  an  investigation,  in  which  the  use  of  animals  became 
necessary,  showed  that  these  cases  were  due  to  a  natural  infection  of 
shaving  brushes  through  the  hair  from  which  they  were  made.  Regu- 
lations were  immediately  issued  to  inhibit  the  use  of  harmful  material 
in  the  manufacture  of  these  articles. 

Tuberculosis. 

We  have  with  us  at  all  times  a  disease  which  is  so  common  that 
we  perhaps  do  not  fully  appreciate  what  a  tax  it  entails  on  the  economy, 
the  health  and  the  happiness  of  the  populace ;  tuberculosis  occurs  ac- 
tively in  perhaps  1  per  cent  of  the  population  and  occasions  at  least 
one  out  of  every  ten  deaths.  If  this  occurred  in  an  isolated  epidemic 
we  should  be  appalled.  Great  as  have  been  our  advances  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  this  condition,  there  rerhains  much  to  be  investigated  and 
learned.  We  have  been  obliged  to  experiment  upon  animals  in  ob- 
taining our  present  information  and  this  practice  will  necessarily  con- 
tinue, if  we  are  to  find  out  more.  The  Service  is  at  present  engaged  in 
an  experimental  investigation  of  tuberculosis  with  the  view  to  dis- 
covering some  method  which  will  aid  in  tlie  fight  against  this  insidious 
malady.  Every  now  and  then  a  new  and  wonderful  cure  for  tuber- 
culosis is  ushered* in  with  much  sound  of  trumpets  and  flaring  head- 
lines in  the  newspapers.  Some  of  these  so-called  "remedies"  are  little 
less  than  unadulterated,  heartless  fakes ;  others  are  somewise  bolstered 
by  scientific  plausibility ;  unless  the  public  be  informed  by  a  reliable 
authority  as  to  the  true  merits  of  these  "cures"  a  most  pitiable  state  of 
affairs  is  likely  to  transpire.  Sufferers  from  all  parts  of  the  country, 
many  of  them  in  the  last  stages  of  the  disease,  many  having  spent  their 
last  cent  for  railroad  fare,  flock  to  the  center  where  this  new  remedy 
is  obtainable,  only  to  share  disappointment,  and  frequently  to  die  from 
exhaustion.  It  is  felt  that  the  Service  in  investigating  and  furnishing 
the  public  with  reliable  information  on  the  subject  of  certain  of  these 
reputed  "cures"  has  rendered  a  valuable  service  to  the  country.  In 
such  investigations  it  is  necessary  to  use  experimental  animals,  as  it  is, 
indeed,  in  arriving  at  a  diagnosis  in  many  suspected  cases  of  tubercu- 
losis. 


63 
Other  Problems. 

Probably  no  drug  is  more  freely  prescribed  in  diseases  of  the 
heart  than  is  digitalis.  Yet  unless  this  remedy  is  of  a  standard  c|ual- 
ity,  it  is  apt  to  be  harmful  rather  than  beneficial.  Accordingly,  with 
the  aid  of  animal  experimentation,  the  Service  has  formulated  a  test 
which  unquestionably  establishes  the  strength  and  purity  of  the  drug. 

It  has  been  recently  estimated  that  there  are  perhaps  a  million 
persons  in  the  United  States  who  are  addicted  in  some  degree  to  the 
use  of  habit-forming  drugs.  The  pernicious  efifect  of  these  drugs  on 
the  individual  himself  and  on  the  civilization  of  which  he  is  a  unit 
are  well  known ;  and  yet  there  is  a  real  need  for  the  alleviation  of  pain 
and  other  symptoms  of  drugs  which  have  an  action  similar  to  the 
habit-forming  drug,  but  free  from  this  distressing  feature.  Some 
progress  has  already  been  made  in  devising  suitable  substitutes,  and  in 
this  work  an  indispensable  factor  has  been  the  use  of  animals. 

Those  opposed  to  vivisection  and,  indeed,  to  animal  experimenta- 
tion generally,  are  accustomed  to  characterize  many  of  the  investiga- 
tions carried  out  by  scientific,  men  as  being  due  to  idle  curiosity.  It  is 
true  that  investigations  are  made  into  various  phases  of  the  disease 
problem  without  there  being  at  the  time  any  apparent  way  in  which 
the  information  gained  can  be  practically  applied.  Nevertheless,  such 
information  sooner  or  later  is  almost  certain  to  merit  its  place  in  devis- 
ing something  of  value  to  humanity.  One  instance,  as  an  example 
of  this,  is  anaphylaxis.  If  horse  serum  be  injected  into  a  guinea  pig, 
even  in  large  amount,  it  ordinarily  provokes  no  appreciable  effect,  but 
an  investigator  noticed  that  if,  after  an  interval  of  ten  days  or  more, 
another  injection  of  horse  serum  be  given  the  same  animal,  it  acts  as 
an  acute  poison,  often  killing  the  animal  within  a  few  minutes.  This 
finding  invited  the  closest  research.  No  immediate  practical  benefit 
to  mankind  was  at  first  anticipated,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  infor- 
mation thus  gained  has  been  of  great  value  in  diagiiosing  hitherto 
obscure  disease  conditions  in  man  and  in  suggesting  preventions  and 
cures.  Another  example :  During  the  examination  of  the  bodies  of 
rats  for  plague  infection,  a  disease  of  quite  different  origin,  but  closely 
simulating  plague  in  the  lesions  caused,  was  unexpectedly  brought  to 
light.  Through  animal  experimentation  the  bacterium  causing  this 
disease  was  cultivated.  No  immediate  bearing  of  this  fact  on  human 
health  or  happiness  could  be  foreseen,  yet  within  a  very  few,  years.it 
was  discovered  that  many  could  suft'er  a  distressing  infection  due  to 
this  same  organism. 

Problems  regarding  measles,  infantile  paralysis,  hookworm  and 
the  like  placed  before  this  Service  for  solution  might  very  profitably 
be  called  to  your  attention,  but  time  forbids.  In  concluding  I  beg 
leave  to  advise  you  that  the  benefits  which  have  accrued  to  man  con- 
sequent  to   animal   experimentation   have   touched  not   only   physical 


64 

but  aslo  his  moral  well  being.  It  is  true  that  vice  predisposes  to  disease, 
but  it  is  no  less  true  that  disease,  innocently  contracted,  brands  as  a 
criminal  one  who  otherwise  would  have  been  a  useful  citizen. 

There  so  appears  here  a  vicious  circle  between  disease  and  crimi-  '. 
nality ;  there  are  those  that  would  break  the  continuity  of  this  circle  in 
the  reformation  of  all  criminals,  and  we  wish  them  well,  but  surely 
it  is  not  a  step  toward  the  wrong  if,  with  the  means  at  our  disposal, 
we,  too,  interrupt  this  closed  line,  ridding  the  community  of' the  dis- 
eases, which,  directly  or  indirectly,  are  responsible  for  a  great  part  of  it. 


THE  ECONOMIC  ADVANTAGES  DERIVED  FROM 
ANIMAL  EXPERIMENTATION 

By 

Ernest  Charles  Schroeder,  M.  D.,  D.  V.  M. 

Superintendent,  Expcriuicnt  Station,  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry, 
Bethesda,  Md. 

The  economic  advantages  derived  from  animal  experimentation  are 
so  abundant  and  diverse  that  it  is  impossible  in  the  time  I  am  privileged 
to  discuss  them  to  do  more  than  indicate  their  far-reaching  importance. 
To  verify  this  statement  I  need  ask  only  a  few  questions  like  the 
following :  Is  it  an  economic  advantage  to  have  the  Panama  Canal  ? 
Is  the  defeat  of  Pan-Germanism  an  economic  advantage?  Is  it  an 
economic  advantage  to  have  food  and  clothing  in  sufficient  quantities 
to  insure  health  ? 

The  Standard  Dictionary  defines  economics  as  "the  science  that 
treats  of  the  development  of  material  resources,  or  the  production 
preservation  and  distribution  of  wealth,  or  the  means  of  living  well 
for  the  state,  the  family  and  the  individual." 

If  we  accept  this  definition  we  may  conclude  that  anything,  not  an 
actual,  inseparable  part  of  ourselves,  that  contributes  to  the  better 
development  of  the  human  race  and  tends  to  make  life  more  desirable, 
is  an  economic  advantage ;  hence,  the  rational  answers  to  the  several 
questions  must  be  affirmative. 

The  Panama  Canal  would  not  have  been  built  if  animal  experimen- 
tation had  not  revealed  the  etiology  of  yellow  fever.  The  French 
failed  to  build  it,  not  because  they  lacked  intelligence,  courage  or  perse- 
verance, but  because  they  did  not  know  how  to  combat  yellow  fever. 
Under  the  same  conditions  the  Americans  would  have  failed.  If  the 
Canal  had  been  constructed  with  no  better  knowledge  about  yellow 
fever  than  was  available  at  the  time  the  French  abandoned  the  gigantic 
project,   after  they  had   sacrificed  more  than   twenty-thousand   lives. 


65 

success  would  have  cost  so  many  valuable  lives  that  the  very  thought 
of  it  is  horror  inspiring,  and  the  established  short-cut  between  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans  probably  would  have  proved  so  perniciously 
unwholesome  and  destructive  to  those  who  used  it  that  it  soon  would 
have  earned  a  name  for  itself  something  like,  "The  water-lane  of  the 
yellow  death." 

What  the  Canal  has  done  and  promises  to  do  in  the  conservation  of 
man-power,  time,  shipping,  fuel,  etc.,  and  how  much  it  will  facilitate 
the  development  of  the  world  and  particularly  the  countries  on  the 
western  coast  of  the  two  Americans,  I  leave  to  your  imagination. 

If  animal  experimentation  had  not  provided  vaccines,  bacterins  and 
antitoxic  sera ;  if  it  had  not  aided  in  the  development  of  new  methods 
of  surgery  and  the  discovery  of  reliable  means  to  diagnose  infectious 
diseases,  and  had  not  taught  us  how  to  use  war  gases  and  how  to 
defend  our  soldiers  against  them,  the  recent  war  would  have  cost 
many  additional  thousands  of  lives  and  would  have  produced  many 
additional  thousands  of  cripples ;  it  would  almost  certainly  have  been 
prolonged  and  it  is  seriously  questionable  whether  Pan-Germanism, 
with  its  numerous,  villainous  atrocities,  could  have  been  defeated. 

The  economic  significance  of  its  prolongation,  leaving  morbidity  and 
mortality  out  of  consideration,  may  be  judged  from  the  estimate  that 
the  war  cost  the  human  race  three  hundred  billion  dollars,  and  about 
the  economic  meaning  of  defeat  we  should  suspend  judgment  until  we 
have  tried  to  visualize  the  world  under  the  domination  of  a  victory- 
elated  despot,  whose  megalomania,  fostered  by  an  exultant,  reaction- 
ary, Prussian  aristocracy,  would  have  prompted  him  to  assume  the 
rank  of  a  divinity. 

If  animal  experimentation  had  not  taught  us  how  to  cure  many 
diseases  of  the  lower  animals  and  how  to  suppress  appallingly  de- 
structive animal  plagues,  the  hunger  and  starvation  now  prevalent  in 
many  parts  of  the  world  would  be  practically  universal.  I  might  say, 
however,  if  animal  experimentation  had  not  provided  the  means  to 
control  human  diseases  like  small-pox,  Asiatic  cholera,  bubonic  plague, 
typhus  fever,  yellow  fever,  etc.,  it  is  not  at  all  likely  that  the  population 
of  the  world  would  have  become  great  enough  to  make  the  spread 
of  food-destroying  diseases  like  rinderpest,  foot  and  mouth  disease, 
anthrax,  Texas  fever,  hog  cholera,  surra,  swine  erysipelas,  contagious 
pleuro-pneumonia  of  cattle,  sheep  scab,  etc.,  economically  very  im-i 
portant,  as  food  has  no  value  for  those  who  are  dead  and  those  who 
fail  to  be  born. 

Vegetarians,  who  do  not  recognize  the  need  for  abundant  supplies 
of  meats,  animal  fats,  wool  and  hides,  and  persons  who  hold  extreme 
views  on  animal  rights,  may  mistake  this  statement  as  an  exaggeration. 
Their  attention  should  be  called  to  the  fact  that  it  is  questionable 
whether  sufficient  food  for  the  present  population  of  the  world  could 
be  produced  without  the  use  of  animals  to  convert  coarse,  vegetable 


66  •  . 

substances,  unfit  for  human  stomachs,  into  easily  digested;  nutritious 
food,  and  to  the  fact  that,  in  addition  to  serving  as  indispensable 
sources  of  food,  clothing,  power  and  pleasure,  domestic  animals  are  so 
importantly,  related  to  the  production  of  vegetable  foods  and  textile 
fibers  that  practical  agriculturists  are  convinced  that  the  cultivation 
of  the  soil  without  animals  is  economically  impossible. 

The  spiritual  and  intellectual  nature  of  man  requires  that  we  should 
look  upon  him  as  a  unique  and  unparalleled  being,  but  materially,  that 
is  physically  and  chemically,  he  is  not  fundamentally  unlike  the  higher 
mammals ;  consequently,  most  knowledge  valuable  for  the  protection 
of  man's  health  and  the  treatment  of  his  diseases  is  similarly  valuable 
for  the  lower  animals,  and  discoveries,  like  the  circulation  of  the  blood ; 
the  capillary  circulation ;  the  vasomotor  mechanism ;  the  functions  of 
the  nervous  system  generally ;  the  flow  of  the  chyle  in  the  lacteals  and 
its  passage  through  the  lymph  ducts  into  the  venous  circulation;  the 
nature  of  the  digestive  fluids  and  the  chemical  transformation  of  food 
through  their  action;  the  functions  of  the  liver,  lungs,  kidneys  and 
other  organs,  the  reaction  of  the  cells  to  various  kinds  of  stimuli ;  the 
significance  of  the  endocrin  glands ;  the  natui-e  of  inflammation  and 
other  pathological  processes,  and  practically  every  other  discovery  in 
physiology,  pathology  and  biochemistry,  are  as  serviceable  in  the  work 
of  the  animal  husbandman  and  veterinarian  as  in  that  of  the  hygienist 
and  physician,  and  in  this  sense  have  great,  material,  economic  value. 

The  discoveries  referred  to,  and  many  others,  too  numerous  to 
mention,  were  all  made  through  animal  experimentation,  and  could 
have  been  made  in  no  other  way  that  has  ever  been  defined. 

Veterinarians  and  physicians  use  drugs,  and  if  the  pharmacopoeia 
contains  valuable  drugs  about  which  our  knowledge  has  not  been 
enriched  through  animal  experimentation,  I  must  confess  that  I  do 
not  know  what  they  are.  A  superficial  and  insufficient  knowledge  of 
the  actions  of  some  drugs  was  admittedly  obtained  through  accidental 
or  unintentional,  unguarded  and  undesirable  occurrences  among  per- 
sons and  animals,  but  the  precise  knowledge  we  have  of  the  therapeutic, 
physiologic  and  toxic  actions  of  the  innumerable  substances  from 
which  our  useful  drugs  have  been  selected,  is  all  the  product  of  care- 
fully planned,  intelligent  animal  experimentation.  If  wc  did  not  know 
through  animal  experimentation  how  the  drugs  now  in  use  act,  on  the 
body. as  a  whole,  on  special  parts  of  the  body,  directly  or  indirectly 
through  the  nervous  system,  and  whether  their  action  is  immediate  or 
cumulative,  the  death  rate  among  persons  and  animals  would  be  griev- 
ously multiplied,  and  the  greater  losses  among  the  latter  would 
prove  a  factor  of  serious,  economic  disadvantage. 

Before  experimental  methods  were  used  to  study  Hving  organisms 
in  health  and  disease,  the  practice  of  medicine  was  little  better  than 
a  presumptive  art,  based  on  disconnected  and  largely  misinterpreted 
observations,  and  sick  persons  and  animals  were  tortured  as  often,  if 


not  oftener,  than  they  were  helped  by  the  measures  taken  to  restore 
their  health.  Since  then,  fortunately  for  all  sentient  beings,  medicine 
has  become  a  true  science,  and  those  who  practice  it  make  real,  un- 
mistakable contributions  to  recovery  from  sickness,  the  preservation 
of  health  and  the  prevention  of  suffering.  In  animal  industry  this 
means  fewer  losses  and  greater  productivity,  or,  in  other  words,  better 
and  less  expensive  food  and  apparel. 

I  wish  to  emphasize  that  nearly  every  discovery  thai  has  thrown 
light  on  the  nature  of  the  human  body  and  its  relation  to  its  environ- 
ment has  also  thrown  light  on  the  nature  of  the  bodies  of  the  lower 
animals  and  their  relation  to  their  environment,  as  this  fact  enables 
us  to  recognize  that  even  that  portion  of  animal  experimentation, 
primarily  undertaken  to  secure  knowledge  for  the  prevention  and  better 
treatment  of  human  diseases,  rarely  fails  to  confer  benefits  on  the 
lower  animals ;  hence,  if  the  proportion  between  the  pain  animal  experi- 
mentation has  caused  and  prevented  among  animals  alone  was  taken 
as  the  major  factor  in  determining  whether  animal  experimentation  is 
or  is  not  morally  sound,  we  would  not  be  left  in  doubt  a  single  moment, 
as  the  pain  that  has  been  caused  is  insignificant  in  comparison  to  that 
which  has  been  and  is  being  prevented.  The  men  who  treat  diseases 
among  animals  probably  relieve  more  paiii  every  day  than  animal 
experimentation  causes  in  a  score  of  years,  and  they  do  this  through  the 
agency  of  the  knowledge  animal  experimentation  has  supplied. 

Diseases  of  animals  like  those  of  persons  may  be  divided  into  two 
kinds,  the  infectious  and  the  non-infectious,  or  those  caused  by  para- 
sites and  those  due  to  other  causes.  The  economic  advantages  derived 
from  animal  experimentation,  through  the  light  it  has  thrown  on  the 
infectious  diseases  of  domestic  animals,  are  of  astounding  value,  and 
this  can  be  shown  in  no  better  way  than  by  discussing  several  of  them 
separately. 

I  will  begin  with  Texas  fever  of  cattle,  which  has  the  distinction  of 
being  the  first  disease  proved  to  attack  its  victims  exclusively  through 
the  agency  of  intermediate  host  or  carrier  of  its  causative  germ  or 
niicroparasite.  It  is  a  member  of  a  large  group  of  exceedingly  de- 
structive, infectious  but  not  contagious,  diseases ;  oth_r  members  of 
the  group  are  malaria,  yellow,  fever,  typhus  fever,  Rocky  mountain 
spotted  fever,  African  sleeping  sickness,  spirillosis  of  fowls,  nagana, 
African  coast  fever  of  cattle,  piroplasmosis  of  horses  and  sheep  and 
dogs,  etc. 

The  intermediate  host  of  Texas  fever  is  the  Southern  cattle  tick, 
a  blood-sucking  parasite  which  absorbs  the  germs  of  the  disease  with 
its  food  when  it  lives  on  the  bodies  of  infected  cattle.  The  female 
ticks,  after  they  reach  maturity,  drop  to  the  ground,  produce  two 
thousand  or  more  eggs,  the  eggs  hatch  and  the  young  ticks  inoculate 
the  susceptible  cattle  to  which  they  attach  themselves.  It  is  perfectly 
safe  to  permit  healthy  cattle  to  association  with  those  that  are  affected 


with  Texas  fever,  provided  no  cattle  ticks  are  present,  and  cattle 
ticks  do  not  convey  or  cause  the  disease  unless  they  are  the  progeny  ■ 
of  ticks  that  matured  on  the  bodies  of  infected  cattle.  Infected  cattle, 
when  we  deal  with  Texas  fever,  means  all  cattle  that  are  either  actively  : 
affected  with  the  disease  or  that  have  apparently  recoverd  from  it, 
as  the  Texas  fever  microparasite,  once  it  has  entered  the  blood  of 
cattle,  evidently  remains  as  a  permanent  contamination. 

In  one  of  the  lectures  of  the  present  series  Dr.  Simon  Flexner  of 
the  Rockfeller  Institute  for  Medical  Research  expressed  the  opinion 
that  our  knowledge  of  yellow  fever  would  in  all  likelihood  have  been 
delayed  if  the  work  of  the  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry  oi  the  U.  S. 
Department  of  Agriculture  on  Texas  fever  had  not  been  done.  I 
have  already  pointed  out  that  the  Panama  Canal  would  not  have  been 
constructed  without  the  knowledge  animal  experimentation  gave  us  on 
the  etiology  of  yellow  fever. 

Think  of  the  modest  investigator  whose  patient  study  of  a  mysterious 
cattle  disease  proved  a  great  pioneer  work  in  the  field  of  medical 
research,  and  incidentally  opened  the  door  to  knowledge  required  for 
the  junction  of  two  oceans  at  a  point  thousands  of  miles  removed 
from  where  nature  permitted  their  waters  to  mingle.  Draw  a  mental 
picture  of  the  man  and  his  work ;  it  will  give  you  an  inspiring  view 
of  intellect  successfully  combatting  evil.  But  it  is  unnecessary  in 
speaking  about  Texas  fever  to  dwell  longer  on  the  role  of  animal 
experimentation  in  the  accomplishment  of  a  great  engineering  feat, 
as  there  are  other  impressive  and  exceedingly  impoi"tant  things  to 
talk  about  in  connection  with  this  disease  that  must  also  be  credited 
to  animal  experimentation. 

Less  than  fifteen  years  ago  the  prevalence  of  Texas  fever  and 
cattle  ticks  in  our  Southern  States  necessitated  the  maintenance  of 
a  cattle  quarantine  which  included  an  area  larger  than  three  quarters 
of  ai  million  square  miles,  known  as  the  permanently  infected  area. 
In  this  area,  more  than  three  and  one-half  times  as  large  as  the  French 
Republic  and  nearly  three  and  one-half  times  as  large  as  the  former 
German  Empire,  the  losses  caused  by  Texas  fever  and  its  carriers  were 
enormous,  to  say  nothing  about  the  frequent,  troublesome  spread  of 
the  disease  northward.  Most  of  the  cattle  raised  were  undersized, 
large-boned,  unthrifty  mongrels  and  inferior  producers  of  milk,  meat 
and  hides.  Much  of  the  food  they  consumed  was  worse  than  wasted, 
as  it  was  diverted  from  sharing  in  their  growth  and  development, 
after  their  bodies  had  been  taxed  with  digesting  and  converting  it  into 
blood,  to  feed  the  ticks  which  irritated  the  surfaces  of  their  bodies 
and  the  microparasites  which  lived  beneath  the  surface. 

A  fairly  reliable  idea  may  be  formed  of  the  losses  caused  by  ticks 
alone  when  we  know  that  female  cattle  ticks  multiply  their  size  and 
weight  by  about  ten-thousand  during  the  approximately  four  weeks 
they  remain  attached  to  the  skin  and  feed  on  the  blood  of  their  hosts ; 


69 


that  the  adult  female  tick  is  about  as  large  as  the  terminal  joint  of 
a  woman's  little  finger,  and  that  ticks  of  all  ages  and  sizes,  often  in 
unbelievable  numbers,  are  present  on  the  bodies  of  the  cattle  in  the 
infected  territory  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year. 

A  light  infestation  with  ticks  has  been  proved  to  reduce  the  milk 
yield  of  dairy  cows  18%,  and  a  heavy  infestation  reduces  it  more  than 
40%.  Think  of  the  loss,  to  which  must  be  added  the  loss  in  beef  pro- 
duction, the  lower  value  of  roughened  and  scarred  hides  and  the  deaths 
due  to  Texas  fever,  which  latter,  averaged  for  eleven  states,  amounted 
to  13%,  or  a  half  per  cent  more  than  one-eightW  of  the  total  cattle. 
The  reason  cattle  could  be  raised  at  all  in  the  infected  and  infested 
territory  is  that  Texas  fever  in  calves  rarely  is  the  severe,  acute, 
highly  fatal  disease  it  commonly  is  in  susceptible  ■  adult  cattle.  It 
attacks  the  calves,  has  a  mild,  chronic  course,  plants  its  microparasites 
permanently  in  their  blood  and  gives  them  a  high  degree  of  immunity 
against  severe  attacks  later  on. 

Agriculture  may  be  compared  to  a  complex  machine ;  there  are  many 
parts  to  it,  and  if  one  part  gets  out  of  order  all  the  others  are  affected. 
The  cattle  industry  is  as  necessary  to  American  agriculture  as  tires  are 
to  an  automobile,  and  to  practice  agriculture  with  cattle  ticks,  Texas 
fevef  and  a  cattle  quarantine,  resembles  driving  an  automobile  over 
a  rough  road,  littered  with  cutting  and  puncturing  objects  and  under- 
going constant  repairs  that  require  long  detours.  Hence,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  agriculture  in  many  parts  of  the  quarantined  area  was 
unprosperous  and  that  the  farmers  and  breeders  were  discouraged 
and  depressed. 

In  the  year  1906,  the  methods  for  eradicating  Texas  fever  and  cattle 
ticks,  revealed  through  animal  experimentation,  were  put  into  practice 
by  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry,  and  since  then,  over  half  a 
million  square  miles,  a  territory  one-hundred  thousand  square  miles 
larger  than  the  combined  areas  of  the  French  Republic  and  the 
former  German  Empire,  have  been  cleaned  of  the  disease  and  its 
carriers  and  released  from  quarantine,  and  in  only  a  few  years  more 
the  two  related  plagues  will  have  been  wiped  entirely  out  of  our 
Country. 

Fully  to  appreciate  what  this  means,  and  to  measure  its  economic 
value,  we  must  know  that  the  formerly  infected  and  infested,  quaran- 
tined territory  includes  some  of  the  best  agricultural  and  cattle  lands 
in  the  world,  and  that  it  has  begun  to  produce  cattle  that  compete 
successfully,  and  on  terms  of  equality,  with  the  finest  that  enter  our 
stockyards,  and  that  recently  it  has  produced  cattle  that  captured 
blue  ribbons  at  National  livestock  shows.  The  farmers  and  breeders 
have  taken  heart  and  are  working  with  renewed  courage,  and  increased 
prosperity  and  contentment  are  widely  evident.  The  choice,  well- 
bred,  healthy,  heavy  and  profitable  cattle  are  being  produced  at  no 
greater  expenditure  of  labor  and  forage  than  the  undersized,  sufifering 


ro 


runts  required,  as  cattle  raising  and  feeding  has  ceased  to  mean 
raising  and  feeding  a  combination  of  cattle,  cattle  ticks  and  Texas 
fever  parasites.  It  is  now  safe  to  send  cattle  from  the  North  into  the 
rich  pasture  lands  of  the  South,  where,  a  little  while  ago,  it  was  unsafe,  ■ 
notwithstanding  difficult  precautions,  to  send  thoroughbred  animals  for 
breeding  purposes. 

Think  of  the  economic  advantage.  Think  of  the  increased  produc- 
tion of  food,  think  of  it  with  the  fact  in  mind  that  well-informed  men 
assert  that  the  morbidity  and  mortality  in  the  world  directly  due  to 
tmdernourished  are  so  great  in  many  places  that  they  over-shadow 
the  horrors  of  the  war.  Those  who  are  not  informed  about  the  evils 
incident  to  under-nourishment  and  long  continued  dependence  on  food 
that  lacks  essential  nutritive  elements,  and  how  serious  the  food 
shortage  in  the  world  is  today,  may  find  it  difficult  to  believe  that 
millions  of  human  beings  in  this  so-called  civilized  age,  beings  and 
feelings,  affections  and  souls  like  our  own,  are  being  stunted  spiritually 
and  physically  and  are  being  hurried  prematurely  out  of  life  because 
they  cannot  get  enough  to  eat  or  enough  of  the  right  kind  of  food,  and 
yet  this  evidently  is  the  truth.  In  the  United  States  the  population 
has  increased  faster  than  the  number  of  domestic  animals,  and  this 
probably  is  one  of  the  causes  for  the  high  price  of  food.  In  Europe 
the  war  has  reduced  the  number  of  domestic  animals  so  much  that 
a  replenishment  from  Countries,  ours  included,  in  which  the  animal 
industry  was  less  severely  injured,  is  urgently  needed. 

Let  us  take  a  look  at  another  disease,  about  which  much  unfruitful 
guessing  was  done  until  the  truth  was  learned  through  animal  experi- 
mentation :  the  commonest  and  most  widely  disseminated  of  all  diseases, 
namely,  tuberculosis. 

Animal  experimentation  proved  that  the  manifestations  of  tubercu- 
losis in  different  portions  of  the  body  and  in  the  bodies  of  different 
species  of  animals  all  have  one,  essential  cause ;  it  proved  that  the 
disease  is  contagious  ;  it  showed  how  and  why  it  is  contagious ;  it  led 
to  the  discovery  of  the  tubercle  bacillus ;  it  proved  that  the  tubercle 
bacillus  in  nature  is  an  obligatory  parasite ;  it  proved  that  the  bacillus 
is  quickly  destroyed  by  light  and  may  long  remain  alive  and  virulent 
in  dark  places ;  it  proved  that  there  are  three  types  of  tubercle  bacilli, 
the  human,  the  bovine  and  the  avian ;  it  proved  that  human  and  avian 
types  have  no  important  significance  for  cattle ;  it  proved  that  the 
avian  type  is  not  an  important  cause  of  disease  among  mammals ;  it 
proved  that  the  human  type  is  the  commoner  cause  of  tuberculosis 
in  human  beings ;  it  proved  that  children  often  are  attacked  by  the 
bovine  type ;  it  proved  that  the  bovine  type  is  the  commonest  cause 
of  tuberculosis  among  domestic  mammals ;  it  led  to  the  discovery  of 
tuberculin,  without  which,  used  as  a  diagnostic  agent,  the  control  and 
eradication  of  tuberculosis  among  food-producing  animals  would  be 
impossible,  etc. 


71 

If  animal  experimentation  had  not  proved  that  tuberculosis  among 
cattle  can  be  eradicated,  wholly  exterminated,  and  its  recurrence  pre- 
vented, without  regard  to  its  continued  persistence  among  human 
beings,  the  cattle  tuberculosis  eradication  work,  for  which  Congress 
now  appropriates  one  and  one-half  million  dollars  annually,  would 
have  the  character  of  a  hopeless  and  ridiculous  project,  unless  utterly 
unreasonable  measures  were  taken  to  prevent  the  reinfection  of  cattle 
with  tubercle  bacilli  from  human  sources. 

One  of  the  difficulties  in  combatting  tuberculosis,  among  persons 
as  well  as  the  lower  animals,  arises  from  its  usually  insidious,  slowly- 
progressive  nature,  through  which  its  subjects  often  become  dissemina- 
tors of  its  germs  long  before  their  dangerous  condition  is  suspected. 
Until  tuberculin  was  discovered  and  its  diagnostic  value  proved,  no 
means  were  available  to  detect  more  than  a  small  proportion  of  the 
existing  cases  of  tuberculosis  among  cattle,  and  the  overlooked  and 
neglected  cases,  through  their  unavoidable  introduction  into  healthy 
herds,  insured  a  further,  rapid  spread  of  the  disease.  Just  what  this 
means  in  terms  of  economy  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  tubercu- 
losis among  the  cattle  of  some  of  the  older  and  more  densely  popu- 
lated countries  of  Europe  is  from  four  to  five  times  as  common  as  it 
is  among  the  cattle  of  our  Country,  and  that  it  is  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
times  as  common  among  the  cattle  of  our  older  and  more  densely 
populated,  than  it  is  among  those  of  our  newer  and  less  densely  popu- 
lated states. 

Through  the  use  of  tuberculin  the  cattle  tuberculosis  eradication 
work  is  making  excellent  progress,  and  this  should  be  gratifying,  as 
the  disease  is  a  food  destroying  evil  which  shoilld  not  be  left  as  a. 
burdensome  heritage  to  coming  and  more  populous  generations  of 
mankind,  who,  no  doubt,  will  find  the  production  of  sufficient  food, 
even  under  normal  as  distinct  from  war  conditions,  more  difficult  than 
we  and  past  generations  have  found  it  to  be.  The  food  producing 
area  of  the  world  is  fairly  constant ;  actually  it  does  not  change  much 
from  generation  to  generation ;  relatively  it  grows  smaller  as  the 
population  increases. 

Tuberculosis  among  animals  in  the  United  States  alone,  on  the 
basis  of  the  lowest  estimate,  which  I  am  convinced  is  entirely  too  low, 
destroys  at  least  twenty-five  million  dollars  worth  of  urgently  needed 
food  per  annum.  This  estimate  was  made  before  the  war,  at  a  time 
when  milk  cost  the  consumer  eight  and  not  eighteen  cents  per  quart, 
and  when  prime,  roast  beef  and  porterhouse  steak  retailed  at  from 
eighteen  to  twenty-five  cents  per  pound. 

What  I  have  said  about  seemingly  harmless  but  seriously  dangerous 
disseminators  of  disease  germs  in  speaking  about  tuberculosis  applies 
also  to  other  infectious  disease ;  hence,  the  discovery  of  methods  that 
help  to  distinguish  more  certainly  between  safe  and  dangerous  animals 
reduces  the  difficulties  that  confront  our  efl'orts  to  control  and  eradicate 


72 

other  costly  animal  plagues,  and  this  is  a  field  in  which  the  economic 
advantages  derived  from  animal  experimentation  are  particulrly 
valuable. 

If  the  various  biological  tests  for  diseases,  discovered  during  the 
last  thirty  years,  had  been  in  use  a  century  or  two  ago,  the  importa- 
tion of  several  destructive  animal  plagues,  now  causing  heavy  losses 
in  the  United  States,  could  have  been  prevented.  For  exarnple,  our 
Government  is  successfully  eradicating  a  disease  among  horses  known 
as  dourine,  which  entered  the  United  States  and  gained  a  foothold 
because  its  virus  is  at  times  carried  by  horses  which  show  no  symptoms 
of  their  dangerous  condition.  The  closest  study  of  such  infected  horses 
during  the  period  of  time  imported  animals  are  subjected  to  quaran- 
tine does  not  lead  to  their  detection ;  the  complement  fixation  test  for 
dourine  detects  them  at  once ;  the  test  was  not  known  until  after  the 
unfortunate   importation  of   the   disease. 

This  plague  would  continue  to  spread  rapidly  unless  impossible 
sums  of  money  were  spent  to  check  it  if  the  apparently  innocent 
carriers  and  disseminators  of  its  causative  microparasites  could  not 
be  distinguished  through  the  agency  of  the  test  animal  experimenta- 
tion has  supplied.  Horses  may  not  be  as  indispensable  today  as  they 
were  before  tractors,  motor-trucks  and  other  types  of  automobiles  came 
into  use,  but  the  prices  asked  for  them  indicate  that  it  will  be  sometime 
before  we  can  get  along  without  their  services  or  afl^ord  to  neglect 
their  diseases. 

To  offset  the  example  I  have  given  of  an  instance  in  which  a  bio- 
logical test  was  discovered  too  late  to  exclude  an  animal  plague  from 
our  Country,  though  early  enough  to  insure  its  eradication,  I  will 
give  one  in  which  a  test  was  available  early  enough  to  exclude  a  more 
serious  plague.  The  disease  in  this  instance  is  surra,  a  pernicious 
evil,  indigenous  in  the  southern  portion  of  Asia,  from  which  it  has 
been  spread  to  several  other  portions  of  the  world,  and  which  is  not 
at  all  choice  in  its  victims,  as  it  may  attack  such  widely  different 
species  of  animals  as  cattle,  horses,  sheep,  goats,  camels,  elephants, 
monkeys,  rats,  etc.  In  cattle  surra  may  run  a  mild  course,  but  once 
they  are  atacked  they  are  apt  to  carry  its  microparasites  in  their 
blood  and  to  remain  sources  from  which  the  disease  spreads  for  a 
long  time. 

A  little  more  than  a  dozen  years  ago  an  attempt  was  made  to  in- 
troduce a  herd  of  about  fifty  East  India  cattle  into  the  United  States, 
to  b'e  used  in  Texas,  where  it  was  believed  the  native  cattle  could  be 
made  resistant  to  southern  cattle  ticks  by  crossing  them  with  the 
Indian  cattle,  which  are  alleged  to  be  strongly  tick  resistant.  Repeated 
examinations  of  the  blood  of  the  Indian  cattle  were  made  before  their 
departure  from  Asia  and  while  they  were  en  route  to  and  after  their 
arrival  in  the  United  States,  and  nothing  to  arouse  suspicion  was 
found ;  but,   while   they  were  in   quarantine,   rabbit  inoculation  tests 


gave  absolute  proof  that  their  blood  was  infected  with  the  germs  of 
surra.  The  economic  advantages  derived  in  this  instance  from  animal 
experimentation,  a  pattern  of  things  that  repeat  themselves  over  and 
over  again,  are  so  great,  irrespective  of  whether  we  estimate  them  in 
money,  in  food  saved  or  in  suffering  prevented,  that  they  stagger 
belief.  A  somewhat  similar  story  can  be  told  about  a  threatened  in- 
troduction, into  the  United  States,  with  a  shipment  of  milk  goats,  of 
Malta  or  Mediterranean  fever,  a  disease  of  both  persons  and  animals, 
which  may  exist  in  goats  in  a  form  that  cannot  be  detected  through 
other  means  than  the  use  of  a  test  which  animal  experimentation  has 
given  us. 

Personal  experience  which  stamp  lasting  impressions  on  our  minds 
often  make  instructive  illustrations.  About  thirty-five  years  ago  I 
witnessed  the  examination,  condemnation,  slaughter  and  autopsy  of 
a  magnificent,  handsome,  vigorous,  sleek  and  apparently  healthy  horse, 
owned  by  a  wealthy  man  who  maintained  a  stable  of  four  or  five 
horses  for  family  use.  Horse  after  horse  in  his  stable  had  contracted 
acute,  easily  diagnosed  glanders  and  had  been  condemned,  killed  and 
replaced,  only  this  one  fine  animal  seemed  immune,  until  suspicion 
was  directed  to  it  as  the  probable  source  of  infection,  but  not  until 
seven  or  eight  valuable  horses  had  been  lost.  The  owner  expressed 
himself  to  the  veterinarian  in  charge  of  his  stable  to  the  following 
effect:  "If  you  believe  that  the  circumstantial  evidence  which  points 
to  this  horse  as  the  source  of  infection  is  strong  enough,  I  am  willing 
that  it  should  be  killed,  though  it  has  never  been  sick  during  the  time 
I  have  owned  it,  excepting  that  on  one  or  two  occasions  it  had  a  slight 
cold  with  a  meager,  clear,  watery  discharge  from  its  nostrils." 

The  autopsy  revealed  a  group  of  small,  perfectly  typical  glanders 
ulcers  on  the  wall  of  the  larynx  and  a  few  small,  chronic  nodules  in 
the  lungs,  so  located  that  they  could  not  be  detected  in  the  living 
animal.  During  two  years  following  the  removal  of  this  originally 
unsuspected  source  of  infection  from  the  stable,  after  which  I  have 
no  record,  no  further  cases  of  glanders  occurred.  If  the  mallein  or 
complement  fixation  test  for  glanders,  later  products  of  animal  experi- 
mentation, had  been  available  at  that  time,  every  horse  in  the  stable 
would  have  been  tested  imniediately  after  the  first  case  of  glanders  was 
discovered,  and  the  seemingly  healthy  spreader  of  the  disease  found  and 
prevented  from  causing  further  losses.  Glanders  is  transmissible  to 
man,  and  a  hopeless,  painful  and  disgusting  disease  when  it  attacks 
man.  Its  frequency  among  horses  has  enormously  declined  since  it  has 
become  possible  to  pick  out  the  seemingly  healthy  carriers  and  dis- 
seminators of  its  microparasite  through  the  use  of  special  tests  which 
must  be  credited  to  animal  experimentation. 

Think  a  moment  and  realize  the  significance  of  the  following  state- 
ment :  If  the  narrow  and  ridiculous  requirement  was  made  that  nothing 
should  be  favorably  credited  to  animal  experimentation  but  the  pain 


74 

against  which  it  has  safeguarded  the  lower  animals  through"  the  use 
of  the  tests  it  has  given  us  to  discover  otherwise  undiscoverable 
sources  of  infection,  we  would  be  obliged  to  admit  that  it  has  paid  for 
itself  thousands  upon  thousands  of  times  over  again. 

Hog  cholera  is  another  disease  that  merits  attention,  as  the  losses 
due  to  it  in  some  past  years  have  amounted  to  a  hundred  million, 
dollars,  and  in  one  year  are  alleged  to  have  reached  the  two  hundred 
million  dollar  mark.  A  serum  and  a  virus  to  protect  hogs  against 
cholera  have  been  developed  through  animal  experimentation  by  the 
United  States  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry,  and  are  now  widely  used 
with  excellent,  economic  results.  Before  they  were  available  many 
hog  breeders  and  feeders  believed  that  it  was  a  good  business  policy 
to  assume  that  their  crop  of  hogs  would  be  destroyed  by  cholera  and 
be  a  total  loss,  on  a  general  average,  about  once  every  five  or  six  years. 
The  losses  did  not  occur  at  regular,  determinable  intervals,  so  that  a 
feeling  of  security  could  be  enjoyed  during  the  four  or  five  years 
following  a  loss  year.  On  the  contrary,  it  could  not  be  predicted  in 
any  year  from  the  occurrence  of  previous  years  whether  the  hogs 
would  go  to  market  or  whether  the  cholera  would  get  them.  This 
uncertainty  did  not  encourage  maximum  production ;  the  hog  breeding 
and  feeding  business  was  unattractive  to  conservative  men ;  it  was  too 
much  like  investing  money  in  debatable  securities  that  promise  high 
rates  of  interest  and  too  often  prove  utterly  worthless.  And,  bear 
in  mind,  when  the  high  rates  were  paid  on  money  invested  in  the  hog 
industry,  it  was  the  consumer  who  settled  the  bill. 

How  much  animal  experimentation  has  affected  the  price  of  pork 
products  may  be  judged  from  a  statement  made  by  the  Secretary  of 
Agriculture  and  recently  published  in  a  News  Letter  of  his  Depart- 
ment. This  statement  asserts  that  the  losses  from  hog  cholera  in  the 
United  States  have  been  reduced  sixty  per  cent  since  the  year  1913,  and 
that  this  equals  a  saving  of  forty-one  million  dollars  per  annum.  Let 
us  measure  this  in  food  terms.  Forty-one  million  dollars  worth  of 
hogs,  assuming  that  the  average  retail  price  of  pork  products  is  forty 
cents,  per  pound,  amounts  to  one  pound  each  of  nutritious  meat  or 
fat  on  every  one  of  the  365  days  in  a  year  for  280,820  human  beings. 
The  assumed  average  price  of  pork  products  probably  is  a  little  too 
high ;  make,  it  lower  and  the  number  of  human  beings  benefited  in- 
creases. The  importance  of  the  hog  as  a  source  of  human  food  ranks 
next  to  that  of  the  dairy  cow. 

The  money  saved  in  the  United  States  in  one  year,  through  the 
economic  advantages  the  hog  industry  alone  has  derived  from  animal 
experimentation,  invested  in  Victory  bonds,  would  yield  an  annual 
income  greater  than  the  sum  annually  appropriated  by  Congress  for 
the  study  and  control  of  all  the  plagues  that  occur  among  the  domestic 
animals  of  our  Country.  This  is  a  fact  which  should  be  kept  in  mind 
by  those  persons  who  claim  that  our  Government  is  more  eager  to 


75 

fly  to  the  rescue  of  the  sick  hog  than  it  is  to  care  for  the  sick  child. 
The  clear-minded  men  in  our  Congress  who  are  behind  the  appro- 
priations made  for  the  protection  of  our  animal  industry  are  not  moved 
by  sentimental  consideration  for  hogs  or  other  kinds  of  livestock ; 
not  even  by  consideration  for  the  breeders  and  feeders  of  domestic 
animals,  or  for  any  special  industry  or  class  of  men.  They  know 
what  a  relaxation  of  the  fight  against  the  existing  and  possible  evils 
that  destrby  food-producing  animals  would  mean  to  the  whole  people 
of  the  Country,  and  that  the  health  and  welfare  of  a  nation  depend 
on  no  one  thing  quite  as  much  as  an  abundant  supply  of  wholesome 
food. 

Lengthy  dissertations,  similar  to  the  brief  statements  I  have  made 
about  Texas  fever,  tuberculosis,  dourine,  surra,  Malta  fever,  glanders 
and  hog  cholera,  to  show  the  value  of  the  economic  advantages  derived 
from  animal  experimentation,  could  be  made  about  other  animal 
plagues,  such  as  contagious  pleuro-pneumonia,  rinderpest,  foot  and 
mouth  disease,  anthrax,  blackleg,  sheep  scab,  etc.,  but  our  time  is 
too  short. 

Contagious  pleuro-pneumonia  of  cattle  was  imported  into  the  United 
States  seventy-seven  years  ago.  Animal  experimentation,  which 
definitely  proved  its  contagiousness  and  further  proved  that  various, 
seemingly  feasible  rhethods  of  control  were  useless,  led  to  the  adop- 
tion of  the  methods  through  which  it  was  speedily  eradicated.  If  we 
had  been  tardy  about  applying  the  knowledge  animal  experimentation 
gave  us,  the  losses  from  this  plague  soon  would  have  mounted  to 
hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars. 

Rinderpest,  a  terribly  destructive  disease  of  ruminants,  which  has 
repeatedly  spread  from  its  native  place  in  Asia  into  and  over  Europe 
during  and  after  wars,  but  has  fortunately  never  reached  the  United 
States,  is  being  controlled  by  a  method  similar  to  that  which  is  effective 
against  hog  cholera.  Permit  me  to  give  you  a  few  statistics  on  this 
plague,  as  they  will  help  you  to  comprehend  how  large  the  food 
problems  are  with  which  animal  experimentation  deals,  and  will  show 
you  that  the  question,  whether  such  experimentation  should  or  should 
not  be  hampered  by  legislation,  cannot  reasonably  be  settled  by 
possibly  well-intentioned  but  uninformed  and  emotionally  misguided 
persons.  Introduced  into  France  after  the  Franco-Prussian  war, 
rinderpest  killed  56,533  cattle  in  two  years.  Introduced  into  Great 
Britian  in  18G5,  it  killed  500,000  cattle  in  18  months.  Introduced  into 
Italy  towards  the  end  of  the  18th  century,  it  killed  3,000,000  cattle  in 
three  years.  Introduced  into  South  Africa  it  killed  980,000  cattle  in 
the  Transvaal  in  1897  and  1,300,000  in  Cape  Colony  during  1897  and 
1898. 

Since  I  have  touched  on  the  subject  of  statistics,  let  me  give  you 
a  few  about  other  diseases.  Anthrax,  which  is  most  fatal  to  sheep  and 
cattle  but  also  attacks  a  variety  of  other  animals,  including  man,  is 


76 

being  controlled  through  the  agency  of  a  vaccine  supplied  by  animal 
experimentation.     In  France,  vaccination  reduced  the  death  rate  due  ' 
to  this  disease  among  sheep  from  10%  to  0.94%  and  among  cattle  from- . 
5%  to  0.34%.     Rouget  or  swine  erysipelas  is  a  widespread  disease  in  • 
Europe,  the  losses  from  which  were  reduced  through  vaccination  from 
20%   to   1.45%.     Think   of   the   enormous   losses   before   vaccination; 
think  of  the  more  than  90%  reduction  in  these  losses.     In  one  region 
in  Europe,  in  which  tetanus  or  lockjaw  is  endemic  and  apt  to  follow 
wounds  of  all  kinds,  259  cases  occurred  among  untreated  horses,  and 
not  one  among  7,000  which  received  injections  of  tetanus  antitoxine. 
I  advise  the  anti-vivisectionist  who  visits  this  region  and  accidentally 
steps  on  a  rusty  nail  not  to  fight  too  hard  against  the  preventive  treat- 
ment for  tetanus  or  lockjaw,  because  its  discovery  cost  the  lives  of  a 
number  of  experiment  animals. 

Blackleg,  like  anthrax,  is  caused  by  a  spore-forming,  vegetable 
microparasite.  The  spores  of  both  diseases  live  and  retain  their  viru- 
lence long  periods  of  time  when  they  enter  the  soil,  and  on  infected 
soil  it  is  economically  impossible  to  raise  sheep  and  cattle  unless  they 
are  immunized.  The  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  an- 
nually distributes  from  two  to  four  million  doses  of  blackleg  vaccine, 
because  the  men  who  raise  cattle  in  portions  of  our  country  where  the 
infection  exists  have  learned  through  experience  that  the  losses  from 
blackleg  among  their  young  stock,  unless  it  is  immunized,  are  tmbear- 
able.  Practical  men  do  not  look  upon  the  use  of  antitoxic  sera,  vac- 
cines, bacterins  and  other  biological  products  as  an  academic  question 
or  a  subject  for  sentimental  speculation.  With  them  a  thing  must  pay ; 
else  it  is  discarded.  Quack  remedies  may  receive  a  trial  but  are  soon 
'discredited,  and  when  thousands  of  level-headed  business  men  demand 
and  use  the  same  agent  year  after  year,  it  must  have  real  virtue. 

About  foot-and-mouth  disease  we  know  relatively  little,  although 
we  do  J<now  how  extremely  contagious  and  destructive  it  is,  and  that 
it  may  attack  a  number  of  different  species  of  animals.  The  recent 
outbreaks  in  the  United  States  should  be  fresh  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  are  interested  in  the  source  of  our  daily  food.  To  keep  this 
plague  out  of  the  country,  to  detect  it  at  once  when  it  gains  entrance, 
to  suppress  it  without  extravagant  and  unnecessary  expense,  is  possible 
only  through  tests  in  which  living  animals  are  used.  Through  animal 
experimentation  it  has  been  proved  that  this  plague,  the  losses  from 
which  would  soon  mount  to  unbelievable  figures  if  it  were  permitted  to 
ravage  unchecked,  may  be  imported  in  ways  that  cannot  be  opposed  by 
animal  quarantine. 

Sheep  scab,  which  at  one  time  threatened  to  destroy  the  wool- 
growing  industry  in  some  parts  of  the  world  peculiarly  adapted  for 
sheep  culture,  has  become  a  relatively  unimportant  evil  through  animal 
experimentation. 

The  mysteries   of   infectious   abortion   disease   of   cattle,   an   evil 


which  might  have  been  kept  out  of  our  country  if  the  agglutination  or 
complement  fixation  test  had  been  available  early  enough,  are  gradu- 
ally but  surely  being  revealed  through  animal  experimentation,  and 
this  widespread,  chronic  plague,  prevalent  especially  among  dairy  cattle, 
and  which  is  estimated  to  cost  the  Nation  upwards  of  forty  million  dol- 
lars per  annum,  it  is  hoped  will  soon  be  amendable  to  control.  It  is 
an  uncommonly  prolific  disease  in  those  unsuspected  and  dangerous 
carriers  and  disseminators  of  infection  which  can  be  detected  only 
through  the  use  of  the  special  biological  tests. 

As  I  indicated  in  the  introductory  paragraph  of  my  address,  the 
economic  advantages  derived  from  animal  experimentation  are  so 
great,  numerous  and  varied  that  only  the  high  points  can  be  touched 
here  and  there  in  the  time  at  my  disposal.  Volumes  could  be  written 
on  the  subject  without  exhausting  it  or  doing  it  justice.  For  instance, 
I  have  not  referred  to  the  excellent  work  that  has  reduced  the  losses 
caused  by  the  larger  parasites  of  domestic  animals,  parasites  about 
which  we  have  gained  much  knowledge  through  animal  experimentation 
and  about  which  more,  urgently  needed  knowledge  can  be  gained  by 
further  experimentation,  as  is  well  illustrated  by  the  light  recently 
thrown  on  the  life  history  of  the  ascaris,  a  large  parasitic,  round  worm 
with  which  most  persons  are  acquainted.  This  worm,  which  inhabits 
the  intestine  in  its  adult  stage,  is  now  known  to  have  a  larval  stage 
during  which  it  lives  in  the  lung,  where  it  can  cause  inflammatory  proc- 
esses and  may  be  found  to  be  a  direct  and  secondary  cause  of  trouble. 

Another  line  of  experimentation  I  have  not  referred  to  concerns 
animal  foodstuffs,  a  field  in  which  an  enormous  amount  of  work  has 
been  done,  the  value  of  which  lies  not  only  in  securing  the  best  balanced 
and  most  economical  rations  for  animals,  but  also  in  making  foods 
available  which,  if  their  value  had  been  determined  by  accidental 
occurrences,  would  be  a  total  waste,  as  is  shown  by  the  history  of 
cotton-seed  products  as  food  for  animals.  The  early  use  of  cotton-seed 
products  caused  many  deaths  among  cattle  and  was  'particularly  fatal 
to  swine.  Today  cotton-seed  products  must  be  ranked  among  the 
abundant  and  very  nutritious  feeds  of  domestic  animals.  Thanks  to 
animal  experimentation;     You  see  it  is  a  large  subject. 

Those  who  are  in  doubt  about  the  value  of  the  economic  benefits 
derived  from  animal  experimentation  should  first  learn  what  they  are 
and  then  try  to  determine  what  this  world  would  be  like  today  if 
unreasoning  sentimentality  had  led  us  to  place  animals  on  a  plane  too 
high  to  justify  their  use  for  experimental  purposes.  Ask  what  it  would 
mean  to  have  a  long  list  of  parasitic  and  microparasitic  diseases  ravag- 
ing unchecked,  each  causing  yearly  losses  that  could  be  expressed  in 
no  less  than  seven,  eight  and  nine  figures,  and  the  total  of  which  in  our 
country  would  require  ten  figures.  Remember  the  part  animal  experi- 
mentation played  in  the  construction  of  the  Panama  Canal ;  in  the  enor- 
mously increased  prosperity  of  a  territorial  area  in  the  United  States 


78 

great  enough  in  size  and  fertility  to  maintain  a  population  in  excess  of 
one  hundred  million  human  beings ;  in  the  exclusion  of  foreign  food 
and  apparel,  destroying  diseases  and  in  the  control  and  eradication  of 
infectious  diseases  native  to  our  soil  and  those  that  unfortunately 
entered  from  without. 

And,  while  thinking  of  these  things,  bear  in  mind  that,  though 
great  things  have  been  accomplished,  much  remains  to  be  done.  The 
experimental  method  of  studying  living  organisms  and  the  things  that 
may  afifect  them  beneficially  and  adversely  is  comparatively  new. 
Practically  everything  we  know  about  physiology,  pathology,  biochem- 
istry and  the  actions  and  uses  of  drugs  is  less  than  a  few  hundred  years 
old,  most  of  it  less  than  a  hundred  years,  and  practically  everything  we 
know  about  infectious  diseases,  excepting  that  they  are  communicable 
and  harrowingly  destructive,  is  no  older  than  many  men  who  are  now 
alive.  I  myself  remember  when  the  contagiousness  of  tuberculosis  was 
a  common  subject  of  controversy;  when  it  was  profoundly  believed  that 
the  disease  was  hereditary,  and  when  Koch's  discovery  of  the  tubercle 
bacillus  was  regarded  as  an  amusing  claim  rather  than  a  great,  mo- 
mentous addition  to  our  knowledge. 

We  must  go  unhampered  in  this  work ;  to  check  its  progress,  to 
put  obstacles  in  its  way,  to  delay  the  acquisition  of  the  further  knowl- 
edge it  will  give  us,  means  ingratitude  to  the  splendid  workers  who 
have  provided  the  foundation  on  which  we  can  build ;  inhumanity  to 
those  who  look  forward  hopefully  to  relief  from  numerous  preventable 
causes  of  pain,  sorrow  and  loss,  and  good  reasons  to  expect  the  con- 
tempt of  unborn  and  more  enlightened  generations.  Animal  experi- 
mentation truly  is  a  lamp  that  has  illuminated  many  dark  places,  and 
the  light  from  which  is  urgently  needed  to  expel  remaining  darkness. 
Do  not  permit  it  to  be  extinguished  or  dimmed. 

Only  a  few  words  more,  and  they  concern  the  opinion  expressed 
now  and  then  that  future  generations  will  laugh  at  what  we  call  our 
knowledge  as  we  have  laughed  at  some  of  the  so-called  knowledge  of 
past  generations.  We  should  not  quarrel  with  this  opinion  when  it  is 
limited  to  hypotheses  and  theories,  which  are  rarely  permanent  and 
which  every  educated  person  accepts  as  temporary  substitutes  for 
unobtained  knoAvledge.  But  its  application  to  demonstrated  facts  is 
wholly  another  matter,  which  fails  to  take  into  consideration  that  the 
longest  and  most  important  stride  forward  in  the  world's  intellectual 
development  of  which  we  have  any  record,  so  far  as  material  things 
are  concerned,  was  taken  when  the  experimental  method  to  gain  knowl- 
edge was  adopted.  And  now  I  am  talking  of  the  experimental  method 
generally,  and  not  specifically  of  that  part  of  it  which  necessitates  the 
use.  of  living  animals. 

The  experimental  method  has  made  it  possible  to  discover  and 
prove  facts,  to  distinguish  between  facts  and  theories,  and  to  discard 
untenable  behefs  and  hypotheses.     Facts  are  permanent  additions  to 


79 

the  sum  total  of  human  knowledge  and  constitute  real  knowledge.  The 
present  generation  does  not  laugh  at  the  facts  revealed  and  proved 
by  past  generations,  and  coming  generations  will  not  laugh  at  the  facts 
our  generation  reveals  and  proves.  The  experimental  method,  which 
insists  on  demonstration  before  acceptance,  has  the  healthy  responsi- 
bility for  our  present  low  valuation,  not  of  the  real  knowledge  of  any 
age  or  time,  but  of  the  speculative  philosophies  and  sophistries  which 
burdened  the  minds  even  of  wise  men  before  it  came  into  use. 


THE  ACHIEVEMENTS  IN  DENTAL  MEDICINE  AND  ORAL 
HYGIENE. 

By 

Ralph  A.  Hamilton,  M.  D. 

Professor  of  Bacteriologv  and  Pathology,  Georgetozvn  Unh'crsity 
Medical  School. 

To  one  in  constant  contact  with  the  varied  phases  of  human  suffer- 
ing occasioned  by  disease ;  to  the  laboratory  worker,  whose  life  is  con- 
secrated to  the  task  of  seeking  out  the  hidden  causes  of  disease ;  to 
the  sanitary  officer  whose  duty  calls  him  to  protect  the  health  of  the 
community ;  to  the  armies  of  trained  investigators  whose  mission  is  to 
protect  the  world  from  the  ravages  of  epidemic  and  pandemic  disease, 
the  question  of  being  obliged  to  defend  the  methods  necessarily  em- 
ployed seems,  at  first  glance,  to  be  an  insult  to  the  public  intelligence. 

During  the  present  period  of  world-wide  stress  we  find  ourselves 
witness  to  an  example  of  experimental  legislation  that  seriously  im- 
pairs our  personal  liberty  in  this  theoretically  free  country.  By  simi- 
lar methods  of  pernicious  propaganda  the  opponents  of  vivisection, 
without  justification  other  than  motives  of  misguided  sentiment,  for 
the  sake  of  a  comparative  handful  of  animals,  contemplate  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  entire  fabric  of  scientific  medicine,  and  by  retrograde 
metamorphosis  would  relegate  us  to  the  middle  ages  to  prescribe 
imaginary  remedies  for  diseases  as  they  exist  in  the  nomenclature  of 
speculation.  It  is  of  utmost  importance  that  the  public  be  placed  on 
guard  against  this  insidious  campaign  of  distortion  and  misrepresenta- 
tion, which,  if  successful,  would  stay  the  march  of  medical  progress, 
would  destroy  the  possibility  of  an  exact  medical  science  and  would 
result  in  greater  toll  of  human  life  than  imagination  can  conceive. 

In  the  limited  time  at  my  disposal  I  shall  endeavor  to  show  the 
necessity  for  animal  experimentation  in  the  practice  of  dentistry,  and 


80 

by  the  introduction  of  some  of  its  problems  point  out  the  future 
possibihties  of  an  art  so  closely  allied  to  that  of  medicine  that  the. 
border  line  between  the  two  professions  becomes  obliterated. 

The  evolution  of  dentistry  as  a  science  parallels  that  of  medicine ; 
to  such  an  extent  that  discoveries  in  either  branch  have  left  a  common 
impress.  The  Egyptians  practiced  as  speciahsts  at  an  early  date,  and 
mummies  recovered  from  their  resting  places  bear  mute  testimony  to 
the  dexterity  with  which  the  teeth  were  filled  and  crowned  with  gold. 
At  the  school  of  Salernum  instruction  was  given  in  the  surgery  of  the 
mouth  and  operations  on  the  teeth.  Under  the  influence  of  this  school 
dentistry  was  taught  as  a  part  of  the  surgeon's  routine  practice.  France 
in  1700  was  the  first  country  to  recognize  dentistry  as  a  specialty. 
The  first  complete  treatise  on  dentistry  was  written  by  Fauchard  in 
1728.  Previous  to  th'is  date  gleaners  of  dental  literature  must  seek 
the  medical  and  surgical  writings. 

Three  centuries  ago,  Francis  Bacon  made  an  exceedingly  accurate 
comment  on  the  practice  of  medicine.  "Medicine  is  a  science  which 
hath  been,  it  is  said,  more  professed  than  labored  ;  and  yet  more  labored 
than  advanced ;  the  labor  being  in  my  judgment  rather  in  circle  than 
in  progression ;  for  I  find  much  iteration,  but  small  addition."  The 
accuracy  of  Bacon's  diagnosis  remained  unchallenged  for  nearly  200 
years,  when  Jenner  in  1796  presented  his  gift  of  vaccination  to  human- 
ity, and  fifty  years  later  the  priceless  boon  of  anesthesia  was  introduced. 
Thus  did  medicine  escape  from  that  vicious  circle  so  aptly  epitomized 
by  Bacon. 

In  the  discovery  of  anesthesia  the  dental  profession  claims  equal 
share  of  honor.  Long  and  Jackson  being  physicians ;  both  Wells  and 
Morton  were  dentists.  At  that  instant  animal  experimentation  became 
more  humane,  more  useful  and  more  accurate. 

The  use  of  the  microscope  as  a  scientific  instrument  had  its  origin 
in  1683  when  Van  Leeuwenhoek,  the  Dutch  lensmaker,  made  observa- 
tions on  tartar  scraped  from  the  teeth  and  described  bacteria  for  the  first 
time.  It  is  recorded  that  in  his  enthusiasm  for  scientific  research  he 
extracted  one  of  his  own  teeth  and  thereupon  discovered  the  tubular 
nature  of  dentine. 

To  the  genius  of  Louis  Pasteur  is  accredited  the  introduction  into 
the  world  of  Bacteriology,  a  young  giant  destined  to  revolutionize  medi- 
cal thought  and  research,  to  banish  empiricism  and  to  place  medicine 
on  a  rational  and  scientific  basis.  In  the  last  forty  years  it  has  accom- 
plished more  for  the  benefit  of  humanity  than  has  any  other  branch 
of  science  in  many  centuries.  Beginning  with  Pasteur's  investigations 
into  the  cause  of  fermentation,  and  the  overthrow  of  the  theory  of 
spontaneous  generation,  it  gave  to  Lister  in  1875  his  inspiration  which 
resulted  in  the  so-called  antiseptic  surgery  ushering  in  a  new  era.  By 
the  adoption  of  sound  principles  of  treatment  based  on  the  prevention 
of  infection  much  of  the  odium  attached  to  hospitals  at  that  time  was 


81 

removed  To  this  changed  viewpoint  may  be  attributed  the  success 
and  popularity  of  the  present-day  hospital 

For  a  considerable  period  after  Pasteur's  first  discoveries  bacterio- 
logic  investigations  marked  time  while  methods  of  cultivation  and 
study  were  being  improved.  So  that  the  young  science  was  not  firmly 
fixed  upon  its  pedestal  until  Koch  formulated  his  famous  postulates. 
The  observance  of  these  laws  in  the  course  of  bacterial  study  placed 
a  necessary  curb  on  overenthusiastic  investigators  and  enabled  the 
conservative  ones  to  verify  their  work  in  many  instances  with  the 
precision  of  the  mathematician. 

"1.  The  specific  organism  must  always  be  associated  with  the 
disease.  2.  When  isolated  and  (3)  introduced  into  a  healthy  sus- 
ceptible animal  it  must  produce  the  same  disease,  -t.  From  that  ani- 
mal it  must  be  again  obtained  in  pure  culture." 

These  simple  rules  based  on  the  employment  of  animals  constitute 
the  rock  upon  which  the  science  of  Bacteriology  was  founded.  The 
rock  of  science  which  the  antiyivisectionists  would  annihilate  that  we 
might  build  our  house  once  more  upon  the  shifting  sands  of  ignorance. 

I  shall  not  burden  you  at  this  time  with  a  picture  of  that  trium- 
phant march  of  discovery  that  began  under  the  leadership  of  Pasteur 
and  continues  to  this  day  as  a  true  crusade  in  the  cause  of  humanity. 

Riggs  in  1875,  actuated  by  the  rapidly  crystallizing  germ  theory 
of  disease,  recognized  the  bacterial  factor  in  the  production  of  that 
symptom-complex  known  as  pyorrhea  alveolaris,  the  curse  of  the 
human  race  for  ages.  Riggs's  disease  has  experienced  more  vicissitude.? 
of  classification  than  any  other  disease  in  the  nomenclature.  From  the 
time  of  its  first  recorded  observation  in  1746,  it  has  been  the  storm 
center  of  controversy  between  those  who  believe  it  to  be  a  constitutional 
affection  and  others  having  firmly  fixed  opinions  as  to  its  purely  local 
character.  It  is  pleasant  to  note  in  passing  that  research  work  now 
being  done — by  means  of  animal  experimentation — bids  fair  to  settle 
the  controversy  in  the  near  future. 

About  thirty  years  ago  Miller,  distinguished  for  his  work  in  dental 
pathology,  directed  attention  to  oral  sepsis  as  a  possible  cause  of  consti- 
tutional disease,  but  failed  to  impress  either  profession  with  the  impor- 
tance of  his  observations. 

In  1910  William  Hunter,  of  England,  pointed  out  the  possibility 
of  systemic  infection  through  lesions  of  the  mouth,  and  at  a  later  date 
his  observations  were  verified  by  the  laboratory  findings  of  Rosenow, 
who,  in  the  course  of  investigation  of  the  blood  in  certain  anemias, 
rheumatism  and  heart  disease,  was  able  to  isolate  certain  organisms 
from  the  blood  and  frequently  found  them  to  be  identical  with  the 
bacteria  cultured  from  patients  suffering  from  pyorrhea  and  dental 
abscesses.  While  bacteria  are  capable  of  entering  any  unprotected  or 
injured  part  of  the  body,  it  was  found  by  Rosenow  that  the  most  com- 
mon portals  of  entry  were  through  the  mouth,  the  nose  and  the  tonsils. 


82  •  •    . 

It  was  verified  clinically  by  the  prompt  amelioration  of  symptoms 
when  the  dental  abscesses  and  the  pyorrhea  received  proper  treatment. 

The  term  focus  of  infection  means  that  disease-producing  bacteria 
have  established  a  permanent  residence  in  some  part  of  the  body,  and 
from  that  point  their  toxines  (or  poisons)  are  continually  absorbed  to 
the  detriment  of  the  individual's  health.  In  some  instances  and  under 
favorable  conditions,  the  organisms  themselves  may  enter  the  blood 
stream  and  be  transported  to  some  other  part  of  the  body  where 
serious  disturbances  may  arise  after  their  arrival  in  the  new  territory. 
Thus  it  is  that  certain  forms  of  anemia,  rheumatism,  diseases  of  the 
heart  and  kidney  may  be  traced  back  to  some  original  focus  of  infection. 

When  we  become  possessed  of  a  new  automobile  it  is  difficult  to 
repress  the  tendency  to  violate  the  speed  laws.  When  a  new  idea  in 
the  form  of  a  medicine  or  surgical  operation  is  brought  to  light,  it  is 
often  seized  by  its  partisans  as  a  last  hope  of  salvation.  The  efl^ect  of 
this  overstimulation  is  seen  by  an  immediate  epidemic  of  prescription 
writing  or  of  needless  operations.  I  distinctly  remember  that  surgical 
era  when  the  combination  between  a  small  boy  and  a  hatful  of  green 
apples  meant  a  probable  operation  for  appendicitis.  Fortunately  with 
the  progress  of  scientific  medicine  these  hasty  conclusions  are  becoming 
more  and  more  rare. 

It  is  also  trije  that  teeth  have  been  extracted  when  the  focus  was 
in  the  tonsil  or  even  in  the  gall  bladder.  Hence  it  is  of  greatest  impor- 
tance that  the  oral  surgeon  be  especially  qualified  for  a  task  that 
demands  the  greatest  diagnostic  skill  and  judgment.  The  time  is  now 
at  hand  for  an  interchange  of  viewpoint  between  the  medical  and 
dental  professions.  To  many  minds  the  ideal  solution  of  the  problem 
would  be  to  raise  the  standard  to  such  an  extent  that  a  knowledge  of 
medicine  would  be  a  prerequisite  to  the  study  of  dentistry,  and  the 
practice  of  oral  surgery  would  take  its  proper  place  as  a  specialty  of 
medicine.  Roswell  Park  entertained  these  views  twenty-five  years 
ago,  and  their  correctness  has  been  amply  verified. 

The  present  status  of  the  graduate  in  dentistry  in  this  country  is 
due  in  great  measure  to  chance.  Chapin  Harris,  a  physician,  recogniz- 
ing the  need  for  more  thorough  training  in  the  dental  art,  visited  several 
medical  schools  in  the  endeavor  to  make  dentistry  a  specialty  of  medi- 
cine. These  schools  lacking  the  breadth  of  Salernum  declined  the 
overtures,  and  Dr.  Harris  in  1839,  organized  the  first  dental  college  in 
the  world— the  Baltimore  College  of  Dental  Surgery. 

The  achievements  of  dentistry  in  the  past  are  due  in  great  measure 
to  a  high  development  of  mechanical  skill,  recognized  throughout  the 
civilized  world ;  those  of  the  future  will  depend  on  the  result  of  inten- 
sive research,  now  in  progress,  along  the  lines  of  preventive  medi- 
cine, diet,  metaboHsm  and  oral  surgery.  It  is  not  mere  speculation 
to  say  that  the  present  high  cost  of  living  accompanied  by  the  inevitable 
food  substitution  will  furnish  new  problems  for  solution  by  experi- 
mental means. 


Our  beloved  autocrat,  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  in  addressing 
a  class  of  dental  graduates  in  1873,  had  this  to  say  of  oral  hygiene : 
"You  can  tell  the  state  of  a  village  by  going  to  the  mill.  If  it  has 
enough  to  grind  and  grinds  it  well  and  cheaply,  you  will  find  good 
farms  and  well-fed  people;  so  if  you  see  a  good  square  jaw,  filled  with 
good  sound  teeth,  and  moved  by  a  set  of  muscles  that  mean  business, 
and  do  it,  you  will  find  in  all  probability  that  they  nourish  a  sound 
frame  in  man  or  woman." 

The  history  of  medicine  tells  us  that  all  great  wars  have  taught 
their  lessons.  One  of  them  of  interest  from  a  medico-dental  stand- 
point is  the  report  of  the  provost  marshal's  office.  We  find  that  over 
34  per  cent  of  the  registrants  in  the  draft  of  about  10,000,000  men 
were  rejected  on  account  of  disability.  We  also  note  that  many  of 
the  diseases  for  which  the  registrants  were  rejected  are  diseases  directly 
traceable  to  focal  infectious.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  90  per  cent 
of  the  people  of  this  country  never  consult  a  dentist  we  can  readily 
account  for  so  many  rheumatic  and  heart  diseases.  ~  When  we  add  to 
this  information  the  commonly  repeated  statement  that  between  80  and 
90  per  cent  of  our  school  children  are  afflicted  with  decayed  "teeth,  we 
are  impressed  by  the  magnitude  of  the  problem.  Decayed  teeth  obvi- 
ously reduce  the  child's  ability  to  study,  lower  the  resistance  to  disease, 
and  pave  the  way  for  future  illness.  This  is  a  problem  in  which  the 
oral  hygienists,  the  school  authorities,  the  social  workers  and  physicians 
may  unite  to  effect  a  solution.  From  the  foregoing  it  will  be  seen  that 
there  is  still  need  for  laboratory  animal  experiments. 

The  initial  lecturer  in  this  series,  Dr.  Simon  Flexner,  presented 
a  magnificently  pictured  outline  of  the  world-wide  activities  of  the 
great  Rockefeller  Foundation,  tracing  the  development  of  scientific 
thought  and  of  the  means  that  have  been  employed  toward  the  elimi- 
nation of  all  disease.  With  unlimited  resources  at  its  disposal  it  has 
been  of  untold  benefit  in  the  reduction  of  mortality  from  disease.  At 
the  present  time  it  has  adopted  the  world  as  its  patient,  and  regarding 
epidemics  as  focal  infections  has  sent  investigators  to  the  most  remote 
regions  of  the  globe  in  order  that  these  scourges  may  be  swept  from 
the  face  of  the  earth.  We  trust  that  this  institution,  one  of  the  most 
powerfully  organized  and  intelligent  forces  in  the  cause  of  humanity, 
may,  as  years  roll  on,  attain  the  goal  of  its  ambition. 

It  has  been  clearly  shown  that  man  has  a  right  to  use,  for  any  pur- 
pose, the  animals  that  have  been  placed  in  his  domain.  It  has  been 
shown  that  animals  must  of  necessity  be  utilized  for  the  purpose  of 
determining  the  specific  nature  of  micro-organisms,  for  the  standardi- 
zation of  drugs,  for  the  manufacture  and  standardization  of  antitoxines 
and  vaccines,  and  also  for  the  perfection  of  surgical  operations.  Any 
curtailment  of  this  right  would  result  in  irreparable  damage  to  scien- 
tific medicine.  Each  of  the  lecturers  voice  with  me  their  contempt  of 
wanton  cruelty  and  needless  sacrifice  of  animal  life.     It  has  been  shown 


81 

conclusively  that  no  necessity  for  additional  legislation  for  the  protec- 
tion of  animals  exists.  This  is  clearly  shown  by  the  failure  to  respond 
to  the  challenge  issued  by  the  Health  Officer  of  the  District  of  Columbia 
in  1901,  to  produce  a  single  authentic  case  of  cruelty  to  animals  within 
the  walls  of  any  medical  school  in  this  city. 

Let  us  not  forget  that  some  of  our  most  far-reaching  discoveries 
were  made  possible  by  experiments  on  heroes  who  voluntarily  sacrificed 
their  lives  upon  the  altar  of  science. 

When  ^ve  think  of  the  great  economic  benefits  derived  from' animal 
experimentation,  of  the  lives  that  have  been  saved,  of  the  maimed  and 
crippled  that  have  been  restored  to  usefulness,  of  the  pain  and  anguish 
that  has  been  assuaged,  can  we  imagine  that  the  faithful  dog,  could  he 
have  voice,  would  give  his  consent  to  the  assassination  of  science  ? 


CONCLUDING  REMARKS  TO  THE  COURSE  OF  LECTURES 
ON  VIVISECTION- 

By 

George  M.  Kober,  M.  D.,  LL.  D., 
Dean  of  the  Georgetozvn  University  School  of  Medicine. 

These  two  excellent  lectures  of  singular  importance  conclude  our 
course,  at  least  for  the  present.  We  have  already  bespoken  our  ap- 
preciation to  the  two  speakers  of  the  afternoon,  and  I  deem  it  a  duty 
now  to  voice  our  indebtedness  to  the  Rev.  Francis  A.  Tondorf,  S.  J., 
the  responsible  party  for  the  inauguration  of  this  splendid  course  of 
dissertations  on  a  subject  of  such  vital  importance  to  the  progress  of 
medicine  and  hence  to  the  entire  community. 

You  are  aware,  no  doubt,  that  there  is  a  bill  now  pending  before 
the  Senate  which  is  to  prohibit  all  experimentation  on  dogs  and  which 
would  eventually  lead  to  the  prohibition  of  experimentation  on  all  ani- 
mals. Hearings  were  held  before  the  Senate  Judiciary  Committee 
last  November,  and  these  were  attended  by  leading  scieniists  from  all 
over  the  country.  Father  Tondorf  had  been  invited  to  address  this 
body,  and  his  appeal  for  the  rejection  of  the  bill  was  based  entirely  on 
moral  principles.  As  indicated  above,  the  Committee's  judgment  is 
stiir  pending.  It  seems  quite  certain  that  they  are  not  in  favor  of  the 
measure,  yet  it  is  not  impossible  that  they  may  report  favorably  on 
the  bill  at  some  future  date,  yielding  to  public  sentiment,  should  such 
sponsor  the  cause.  Accordingly  the  Washington  Humane  Society  has 
been  urging  an  active  propaganda  along  these  lines. 

In  the  earlier  part  of  February  last  a  mass  meeting  was  adver- 
tised to  be  held  at  the  Shoreham  Hotel  under  the  auspices  of  the  above- 
named  society.     The  notice  met  the  attention  of  one  of  the  premedical 


85 

students  of  the  Georgetown  University  wlio  promptly  advised  Father 
Tondorf  of  the  proposed  meeting,  asking  him,  if  possible,  to  be  present 
that  both  sides  of  the  question  might  be  presented.  Father  Tondorf, 
in  turn,  advised  me  of  the  same,  and  after  consultation  it  was  decided 
that  both  of  us  should  attend  the  meeting  and  that  we  should  see  to  it 
that  the  movement  should  not  gain  headway  without  the  public  being 
made  conversant  with  our  side  of  the  question. 

The  meeting  was  addressed  by  a  Mr.  Russell,  one-time  editor  of 
the  New  York  Times,  a  journalist  of  considerable  repute.  In  the 
course  of  his  remarks  he  most  insistently  pressed  all  present  to  activity 
toward  the  passage  of  the  bill,  adding  that  once  a  legislative  measure 
had  been  enacted  regarding  the  dog,  the  way  to  the  other  animals 
would  be  easy.  He  hinted  that  a  new  powerful  weapon  was  within 
reach,  to  wit,  women  suffrage.  His  impeachment  of  the  medical  pro- 
fession was  scathing.  Vivisectionists  were  branded  as  materialists. 
His  attitude  in  its  entirety  was  extremely  aggressive.  Father  Tondorf 
asked  Mr.  Russell  whether  he  had  ever  read  the  life  of  Louis  Pasteur, 
and  when  he  replied  that  he  had  not,  he  advised  him  to  do  so,  before 
ever  again  repeating  such  statements,  as  he  wauld  find  that  Pasteur  was 
not  only  a  most  fruitful  scientific  experimenter,  but  also  much  beloved 
and  revered  by  all  who  knew  him  for  the  beautiful  spiritual  life  that 
he  had  led. 

Mr.  Russell  had  also  sketched  in  sarcastic  language  the  history 
and  development  of  medicine,  referring  especially  to  the  blood  letting 
and  calomel  era  in  the  treatment  of  disease.  I  informed  the  audience 
that  there  were  periods  when  medical  men  were  obliged  to  experiment 
upon  man  instead  of  the  lower  animals,  which  involved  lamentable 
consequences.  According  to  Professor  Finkelnburg  of  Bonn  me  aver- 
age span  of  human  life  in  the  sixteenth  century  was  between  18  and  20 
years ;  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  it  was  between  25  and  30 
years,  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  it  did  not  greatly  exceed 
38  years,  while  at  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century  it  was  between  45 
and  50  years.  Death  is  inevitable,  but  human  life  and  happiness  has 
been  prolonged,  and  this  has  been  accomplished  largely  by  animal 
experimentation  in  which  our  faithful  canine  friends  played  a  very 
important  part.  The  press  comments  of  the  following  day  relative 
to  this  meeting  left  little  doubt  that  Father  Tondorf's  able  rebuttal 
amply  met  Mr.  Russell's  charges. 

Yet  we,  of  the  opposition,  left  this  meeting  convinced  that  a  new 
plan  of  campaign  was  imperative.  Hitherto  vivisectionists  were  gen- 
erally contented  in  waiting  on  the  defensive.  Accordingly  Father  Ton- 
dorf called  a  special  meeting  of  the  faculty  of  the  Georgetown  Uni- 
versity Medical  School  on  February  23.  Forty  members  of  the  faculty 
were  present.  The  matter  was  freely  discussed,  and  it  was  generally 
agreed  that,  as  similia  similibus  curantur,  we,  too,  should  launch  an 
aggressive  campaign. 


86 

A  committee,  appointed  by  the  president,  consisting  of  Col.  Will- 
iam H.  Arthur,  U.  S.  A.,  Director  of  the  Georgetown  University  Hos- 
pital ;  Rev.  Francis  A.  Tondorf,  S.  J.,  head  of  the  Department  of  Physi- 
ology, Georgetown  University  Medical  School,  and  myself,  settled  upon, 
this  course  of  lectures  on  animal  experimentation,  viewed  in  its  various 
aspects  of  Medicine,  Philanthropy,  Ethics  and  Economics,  by  men  of 
the  highest  authority  in  the  medical  and  other  professions. 

I  also  called  this  matter  to  the  attention  of  the  members  in  session 
upon  the  Congress  on  Medical  Education  held  in  Chicago  March  1  to  3, 
with  the  result  of  the  unanimous  adoption  of  the  following  resolution : 

"The  Annual  Congress  on  Medical  Education,  composed  of  the 
Council  on  Medical  Education  of  the  American  Medical  Association, 
the  Association  of  American  Medical  Colleges  and  the  Federation  of 
State  Aledical  Boards  of  the  United  States,  has  learned  with  regret 
that  serious  efforts  are  being  made  to  enact  Senate  bill  1258,  'A  bill  to 
prohibit  experiments  upon  living  dogs  in  the  District  of  Colrmbia  and 
in  any  of  the  Territorial  or  insular  possessions  of  the  United  States.' 

"The  highest  aim  of  scientific  medicine  is  the  eradication  of  pre- 
ventable diseases.  The  average  span  of  life  in  the  United  States  has 
been  lengthened  fully  eight  years  during  the  past  twenty-five  years, 
largely  the  result  of  animal  experimentation  in  the  study  of  the  causes, 
prevention  and  treatment  of  communicable  diseases. 

"A  careful  examination  of  the  law  in  force  in  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia shows  that  the  provisions  of  the  current  law  are  ample  and 
sufficient  to  prevent  cruelty  to  animals,  and  since  the  enactment  of  the 
bill  would  be  the  death  knell  to  the  progress  of  scientific  medicine,  this 
Congress  respectfully  but  earnestly  protests  against  its  enactment  as 
unnecessary  legislation  and  detrimental  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
human  family,  and  to  animal  husbandry." 

The  course  of  lectures  just  completed  has  sustained  the  position 
of  our  Faculty  and  that  of  the  Congress  on  Medical  Education,  and 
it  is  hoped  that  even  our  opponents  have  profited  by  this  campaign  of 
enlightenment.  We  now  rest  this  matter  with  the  fair-minded  public. 
Should  our  well-meaning  friends,  misguided  though  they  be,  fancy  that 
any  undue  advantage  has  been,  taken  of  them,  I  am  quite  sure  the 
University  authorities  will  gladly  afford  them  an  opportunity  of  refut- 
ing from  this  same  platform  any  statement  made  by  any  of  the 
lecturers. 


MORAL  ASPECTS  OF  VIVISECTION. 

A  Digest  of  the  Statement  of 
Rev.  Francis  A.  Tondorf,  S.  J.,  Ph.  D. 

Head  of  the  Department  of  Physiology  Georgetozvn   University 

School  of  Medicine 

Before  the 

Subcommittee  of  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary 

of  the  United  States  Senate,  November  4,  1919,  .S".  1258 

on 

A  Bill  to  Prohibit  Experiments  Upon  Living  Dogs  in  the  District  of 

Columbia  or  the  Territorial  or  Insular  Possessions 

of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Chairman  : 

The  topic  now  under  discussion  presents  two  phases,  to  wit,  the 
sentimental  and  the  moral  The  former.  I  tal<e  it,  deserves  Httle,  if 
any,  consideration,  where  human  health  and  happiness  are  at  stake. 
The  latter  rests  wholly  on  philosophical  principles.  These  I  purpose, 
with  your  kindly  indulgence,  briefly  to  review. 

God  has  unquestionably  placed  the  creatures  of  His  hand  under 
man's  dominion  that  they  may  be  of  service  to  him  in  the  prosecution  of 
his  necessary  end.  Accordingly  he  has  an  unequivocal  right  to  the 
use  of  these  creatures  for  any  lawful  purpose  he  sees  fit.  I  insist  on 
lawful  purpose,  the  norm  being  that  in  this  use  man  violates  no  obli- 
o-ation  toward  God,  himself  or  his  fellowmen.  Pleadingly  our  friends, 
the  antivivisectionists,  bid  us  add  a  fourth  condition,  namely,  that  the 
animal's  right  be  held  sacred.  I  answer,  as  anyone  familiar_  with  the 
first  principles  of  ethics  must  answer,  an  animal  has  no  rights.  A 
right  is  a  moral  power,  and  a  moral  power  is  resident  only  in  a  rational 
being      To  invoke  barnyard  rights  is  to  codify  barnyard  morals. 

Very  logically  it  is  now  inferred  that  no  irrational  being  can  sufiter 
an  injustice  for  there  can  be  no  injustice  where  the  injustice  is  not 
reco'-nized  and  where  there  is  on  the  part  of  the  subject  no  expression 
of  unwillingness.  Nor  have  we  here  the  semblance  of  a  sanction  for 
any  wanton  use  of  animals  in  laboratory  experimentation.  The  second 
condition  above  indicated  strictly  inhibits  this.  To  preclude  any  pos- 
sible misconception  of  the  term  wanton,  I  would  define  it  as  any  such 
use  as  would  occasion  unnecessary  pain.  .     ,     ,      •       ■<- 

It  may  be  urged  that  granting  all  this,  vivisection  still  lacks  justifi- 
cation in  that  no  useful  results  have  ever  accrued  therefrom.  You 
have  just  heard  the  curious  recital  of  data  by  the  opposition  m  their 
attempt  to  prove  that  our  many  hours  of  research  have  been  hours 
idly  spent   and  you  have  heard  my  colleagues  to  the  contrary.     Your 


judgment  is  easily  anticipated.  But  were  we  to  admit,  for  the  sake 
of  argumentation,  that  all  our  efforts  to  date  have  been  fruitless,  with 
the  possibility  of  future  experimentation,  important  findings  might 
still  be  reasonably  hoped  for,  a  sufficient  warrant  surely  for  the  con-- 
tinuance  of  researches. 

But  no,  the  atrocities  must  not  be  permitted  to  continue  because 
they  are  "Sanctioned  Infamy,"  "Scientific  Torture."  So  the  first 
speaker  on  the  other  side.  A  catalogue  of  our  cruelties  has  been 
handed  you.  They  all  have  their  foundation  in  the  pain  we  inflict. 
To  fix  a  footrule  of  this,  so-styled,  cruelty  therefore  we  first  need 
evidently  understand  what  pain  might  be.  Physiologists  know  com- 
paratively very  little  about  pain.  They  inform  us  that  of  all  the  senses, 
this  sense  is  the  most  widely  distributed,  naturally  so,  as  it  is  the  body's 
.  safeguard.  That  it  is  a  poorly  localized  sense.  The  nerve  fibers  medi- 
ating pain  they  hand  us  accurately  charted.  But  no  one  seems  to 
touch  a  point  which-  is  of  vital  import  right  here,  and  that  is  whether 
the  pain  sense,  is  as  specialized  in  the  brute  as  it  is  in  man.  The  indi- 
cations are  all  in  the  negative.  Such  the  brute's  position  in  the  scale 
of  anatomy.  Such  the  post-operative  behavior  which  every  experi- 
menter cannot  but  have  noticed,  a  behavior  indicating  a  minimum  suf- 
fering. Such,  finally,  the  ante  and  post  operative  consequences  to  a 
lack  of  anticipation  of  pain,  a  factor  which  so  tellingly  exaggerates 
this  sense  in  the  human  subject.  In  the  light  of  the  above  it  is  not 
hard  to  see  that  the  tales  of  all  our  cruelties  are  but  the  wild  fancies 
of  prejudiced  imaginations. 

With  the  right  to  inflict  pain  on  the  animal  established,  and  I  might 
state  that  this  we  rarely  do  as  most  operations  are  done  under  an  anes- 
thetic, I  ask  to  what  extent  this  infliction  is  permissible.  As  far  as  is 
necessary.  Nor  am  I  of  the  mind  that  this  is  only  a  right  but  more 
a  solemn  obligation  we  men  of  the  medical  profession  owe  mankind. 
I  rest  my  argument  here  and  challenge  the  opposition  to  reply. 

Statement  of 

George  Martin  Kober,  M.  D.,  LL.  D. 

Dean  and  Professor  of  Hygiene  and  Preventive  Medicine, 

Georgetown  University  Medical  School. 

Before  the 

Sub  Committee  of  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  of  the 

United  States  Senate  on  November  4,  1919. 

Mr.  Q^airman :  As  dean  and  representative  of  the  medical  school  of 
Georgetown  University,  I  am  directed  to  enter  a  respectful  but  em- 
phatic protest  against  the  passage  of  Senate  bill  No.  1358,  to  prohibit 
experiments  upon  living  dogs  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  etc.,  for  the 
reason  that  a  careful  examination  of  the  law  nowin  force  made  by  Dr. 
William  C.  Woodward,  our  professor  of  medical  jurisprudence,  for- 


89 

merly  the  efficient  health  officer  of  this  city  and  now  health  commis- 
sioner of  Boston,  shows  that  the  provisions  of  the  current  law  are 
ample  and  sufficient  to  accomplish  the  laudable  object  of  the  advocates 
of  the  bill,  which,  I  take  it,  is  the  prevention  ot'  cruelty  to  animals, 
including  our  faithful  friend  and  companion,  the  dog.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  advocates  insist  in  prohibiting  experiments  upon  living  dogs, 
and  this  sentiment  is  enacted  into  a  law,  it  will  be  the  death  knell  to 
scientific  medicine  and  the  amelioration  of  sickness  and  distress  for 
reasons  already  explained  to  you  by  other  speakers. 

As  we  imderstand  the  case,  under  the  current  law,  enacted  in  1871, 
or  49  years  ago,  amended  in  1873,  1885,  and  1892,  the  members  of  the 
Washington  Humane  Society  have  extreme  power  relative  to  the  search 
of  private  premises  in  which  there  is  reason  to  believe  animals  are 
being  needlessly  tortured ;  that  it  is  not  only  the  privilege  but  also  the 
duty  of  every  member  of  that  society,  as  well  as  of  every  peace  officer, 
to  enforce  the  law  against  such  offenses ;  and  that  members  of  the 
Washington  Humane  Society  are  offered  a  special  inducement  to  per- 
form their  duty  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  all  fines  and  forfeitures 
become  the  property  of  their  society ;  and,,  finally,  that  any  person 
undertaking  to  perform  experiments  involving  suffering  on  the  part  of 
any  of  the  lower  animals  is  protected  from  punishment  only  when  such 
experiments  are  performed  under  the  authority  of  some  regularly  in- 
corporated medical  college,  university,  or  scientific  society,  and  even 
then  only  as  long  as  they  are  properly  conducted. 

If  this  interpretation  of  the  law  by  Dr.  Woodward  is  sustained 
by  your  honorable  committee  or  its  referees,  the  current  law  is  broad 
enough  to  accomplish  the  purpose.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  claimed 
that  the  present  law  is  defective  and  inoperative,  the  burden  of  proof 
for  additional  legislation  clearly  rests  with  the  advocates  of  this  meas- 
ure and  should  emanate  from  unbiased  sources.  Technically,  the 
proper  way  for  obtaining  such  an  opinion  would  appear  to  be  by  the 
presentation  of  a  specific  case  to  the  prosecuting  attorney  and  his 
refusal  to  institute  proceedings  because  of  the  inefficiency  of  the  present 
law  or  by  the  presentation  of  a  specific  case  to  the  court  and  its  dismissal 
by  the  court  for  the  same  reason. 

Is  there  a  real  need  for  additional  legislation?  The  answer  to 
this  question  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  Washington  Humane 
Society,  clothed  with  extraordinary  powers,  has  failed  to  demonstrate 
during  the  last  49  years  a  single  instance  of  abuse.  If  this  be  true,  it 
is  fair  to  assume  that  the  evils  complained  of  do  not  exist,  or  that  the 
members  of  that  society  have  been  derelict  in  their  duty.  The  writer 
is  unwilling  to  accept  the  latter  explanation,  since  the  members  of  the 
society  have  shown  marked  zeal  and  devotion  not  only  by  their  per- 
sistent efforts  year  after  year  in  pressing  the  so-called  "antivivisection 
bill"  but  also  by  thicir  indefatigable  efforts  to  collect  and  present  evi- 
dence in  favor  of  the  bill.     For  this  purpose  the  files  of  newspapers, 


90 

periodicals,  medical  journals,  and  the  transactions  of  the  British  Royal 
Commission  on  vivisection  have  been  searched,  but  a  most  careful 
scrutiny  of  the  evidence  fails  to  reveal  a  single  instance  of  cruelty  to 
animals  committed  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

Mr.  Chairman,  the  highest  aim  of  scientific  medicine  is  the  eradi- 
cation of  preventable  diseases.  In  this  we  have  made  most  commend-  , 
able  progress,  for  medical  history  reveals  the  fact  that  during  the 
Civil  War  out  of  every  1,000  soldiers  enrolled  65  died  annually,  and 
that  during  the  Spanish-American  War  the  losses  were  still  30  out  of 
every  1,000,  while  during  the  recent  World  War  the  mortality  was 
only  14.8  per  1,000. 

These  brilliant  results  were  largely  made  possible  by  animal  ex- 
perimentation in  which  our  faithful  canine  friends  played  a  very 
important  part. 

But,  Mr.  Chairman,  let  me  remind  you  that  man  himself,  the  high- 
est of  God's  creatures  has  shared  the  dangers  on  the  battle  field 
against  the  foes  of  mankind,  and  our  great  and  glorious  country  may 
well  be  proud  of  the  heroes  who  gave  up  their  lives  or  offered  them- 
selves for  experimentation  for  the  benefit  of  humanity.  The  yellow 
fever  commission,  with  Maj.  Walter  Reed  as  chairman,  in  1900  demon- 
strated the  transmission  of  yellow  fever  by  the  mosquiio,  which  more 
than  anything  else  made  the  construction  of  the  Panama  Canal  possible, 
and  without  which  the  ultimate  eradication  of  this  scourge  could  not 
be  accomplished.  I  shall  never  forget  the  glowing  tribute  which  Dr. 
Reed  paid  his  colleagues  for  their  share  in  the  work  which  made  him 
famous,  especially  to  that  brave  young  soldier,  Kissinger,  from  Ohio, 
who  on  December  5,  1900,  was  the  first  volunteer  to  be  bitten  by  in- 
fected mosquitoes,  with  the  only  provision  that  he  should  receive  no 
pecuniary  reward,  since  as  he  expressed  it,  he  was  actuated  "solely  in 
the  interest  of  humanity  and  the  cause  of  science."  Such  exhibition 
of  moral  courage,  in  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Reed,  has  never  been  surpassed 
in  the  annals  of  the  Army  of  the  United  States,  and  I  will  add,  could 
never  have  been  inspired  except  by  a  man  of  Dr.  Reed's  greatness. 

The  story  of  Sternberg,  Reed,  Agramonte,  Carroll,  and  Lazear  in 
the  battle  against  yellow  fever  has  never  been  acclaimed  with  flags 
or  decorations  but  a  grateful  country  has  recognized  the  services  of 
those  noble  workers  by  granting  a  pension  or  annuity  to  the  surviving 
members  or  families,  except  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Agramonte,  who  is  still 
alive,  a  faithful  worker  and  teacher  in  preventive  medicine  in  the  city 
of  Habana. 

Other  medical  men  in  the  United  States  who  with  genuine  Ameri- 
can manhood  have  fallen  victims  of  scientific  research  are  Dr.  Howard 
T.  Ricketts,  who  investigated  typhus  fever  in  Mexico ;  Dr.  Thomas  B. 
McClintic,  of  the  United  States  Public  Health  Service,  who  died  from 
Rocky  Mountain  fever  contracted  while  investigating  the  cause  of  this 
disease;  and  Dr.  William  W.  Miller,  of  the  same  service,  who  died  of 
typhoid  while  investigating  that  disease  in  this  city. 


91 

The  recent  World  War  has  also  developed  a  number  of  striking 
demonstrations  of  genuine  devotion  to  science  and  humanity.  We 
read  in  the  Journal  of  American  Medical  Association  October  11,  1919, 
that  two  groups  of  our  brave  men  modestly  made  a  great  sacrifice  for 
their  country  and  for  mankind  in  connection  with  scientific  investiga- 
tions during  the  Great  War.  One  group  offered  themselves  as  sub- 
jects for  the  study  of  the  puzzles  that  threatened  to  work  great  havoc 
among  the  forces  at  the  front. 

As  trench  fever  apparently  is  not  transmissible  to  animals,  the 
recourse  to  human  subjects  became  imperative.  The  volunteers  lent 
th^emselves  to  the  demonstration  that  the  blood  of  trench-fever  patients 
is  infective  in  order  to  ascertain  what  element  of  the  blood  contains  the 
virus  and  to  discover  the  relation  of  the  louse  to  the  dissemination  of 
the  disease.  The  story  of  some  of  these  endeavors  and  sacrifices  has 
been  recorded  in  the  report  of  the  medical  research  committee  of  the 
American  Red  Cross  (New  York  Oxford  University  Press,  1918). 
"Words  fail,"  says  the  report,  "in  attempting  to  express  admiration 
of  the  morale  and  courage  of  the  volunteers.  They  have  more  than 
done  their  part  by  endeavoring  to  aid  in  the  accuracy  of  the  experi- 
ments."    Today  trench  fever  can  be  controlled. 

Another  volunteer  sacrifice  has  been  recorded  in  the  efforts  of  the 
Army  Medical  Staff  to  find  a  method  of  preventive  inoculation  against 
measles.  No  physician  need  be  reminded  of  the  dangers  to  which 
this  disease  subjected  millions  of  our  men  in  the  two  years  just  passed. 
Here  again,  in  time  of  need,  to  quote  Maj.  Sellards,  who  conducted  the 
tests,  '*the  individual  soldier  was  found  ready  and  willing  to  oft'er  his 
services  and  accept  such  risk  as  was  inherent  in  these  inoculations." 
This  demonstration  proved  that  measles  could  not  be  inoculated  with 
blood  from  measles  patients. 

To  these  loyal  men  the  following  tribute  has  gone.  "The  Surgeon 
General  has  been  informed  of  the  fact  that  you  volunteered  for  the 
measles  investigation.  He  desires  to  express  to  you  his  appreciation 
of  the  patriotism  and  devotion  to  duty  that  you  have  shown,  and  to 
assure  you  that  your  contribution  to  the  cause  is  appreciated  by  him 
just  as  much  as- was  the  bravery  of  the  men  who  went  into  the  fight  in 
France." 

In  the  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  ^Association  for  October 
25,  Surg.  Gen.  Braisted  of  the  United  States  Navy  tells  us  that  his 
annual  report  for  1919  (now  in  press)  contains  the  names  of  138 
enlisted  men  of  the  Navy  who  volunteered  to  undergo  certain  experi- 
ments to  determine  the  mode  of  transmission  of  influenza.  The  ex- 
periments were  performed  when  the  epidemic  was  at  its  height,  and 
the  men  who  volunteered  for  them  not  only  knew  of  its  awful  fatality 
but  also  had  been  witnesses  of  the  demoralization  and  terror  that  beset 
communities  and  individuals  as  this  public  calamity  garnered  its  thou- 
sands and  tens  of  thousands  of  victims. 


92 

As  well  expressed  by  Dr.  Braisted,  "These  men  are  heroes  in  the 
fullest  and  most  beautiful  meaning  of  the  word,  and  we  should  know 
about  them  and  publish  to  the  world  the  story  of  their  deeds. 

"It  is  impossible  to  honor  too  highly  the  nobility  of  these  men  who 
voluntarily,  calmly,  cheerfully  jeopardized  their  lives  in  the  conduct 
of  an  experiment  undertaken  to  elucidate  the  obscurities  of  diagnosis 
and  treatment,  who  do  this  with  none  .of  the  inspiring  features  of 
battle  and  no  prospect  of  being  welcomed  home  as  heroes,  if  they 
survive,  yet  have  had  fully  explained  to  them  the  risk  they  incur." 

Realizing  as  we  all  do  that  sickness  is  the  most  potent  cause  of 
poverty  and  distress,  it  is  clearly  our  duty  to  diminish  the  ravages 
of  disease.  May  I  not,  as  a  teacher  of  hygiene  and  preventive  medicine, 
venture  to  express  the  hope  that  the  bill  before  you  will  not  be  enacted, 
so  that  the  warfare  against  preventable  diseases  which  has  been  so 
successfully  waged  by  man  and  his  pet  companion  may  go  on  until  the 
eradication  of  the  invisible  foes  of  mankind  is  finally  accomplished. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  always  been  a  friend  of  the  dog,  and  am 
familiar  with  his  faithfulness  and  keen,  almost  human  intelligence ; 
indeed,  one  of  my  great  personal  losses  in  life  was  the  death  from 
hydrophobia  of  a  family  pet,  who  was  the  victim  of  the  bite  of  a 
rabid  dog,  which  might  have  been  prevented  had  not  our  well-meaning 
but  misguided  friends  of  the  Washington  Humane  Society  objected  to 
the  muzzling  of  dogs. 

I  thoroughly  appreciate  many  of  the  virtues  of  the  dog  set  forth 
in  the  Bill  S.  1258,  and  recall  with  genuine  admiration  the  almost 
human  sympathy  which  my  own  pet  companion  evinced  for  the  sick 
and  wounded  soldiers  under  my  care  in  the  early  seventies,  which  sta- 
tioned at  some  of  the  frontier  military  posts  in  the  far  West.  His 
display  of  afifection  seemed  almost  supernatural,  and  I  would  never 
have  dared  to  mention  some  of  the  evidences  of  canine  sagacity  except 
for  a  letter  published  in  the  Philadelphia  Medical  Times,  dated  May  1, 
1875,  on  page  496,  written  by  Dr.  Walter  F.  Atlee,  one  of  America's 
great  surgeons,  which  is  as  follows : 

"Dear  Sir  :  In  a  letter  recently  received  from  Lancaster,  where  my 
father  resides,  it  is  said,  'A  queer  thing  occurred  just  now.  Father 
was  in  the  office  and  heard  a  dog  yelping  outside  the  door ;  he  paid  no 
attention  until  a  second  and  louder  yelp  was  heard,  when  he  opened  it 
and  found  a  little  brown  dog  standing  on  the  step  upon  three  legs.  He 
brought  him  in,  and  in  examining  the  fourth  leg  found  a  pin  sticking 
in  it.     He  drew  out  the  pin,  and  the  dog  ran  away  again. 

"The  office  of  my  father.  Dr.  Atlee,  is  not  directly  on  the  street, 
but  stands  back,  having  in  front  of  it  some  6  feet,  a  stone  wall,  with  a 
gate.  I  will  add  that  it  has  not  been  possible  to  discover  anything  more 
about  this  dog. 

"This  story  reminds  me  of  something  similar  that  occurred  to  me 
while  studying  medicine  in  the  same  office  nearly  30  years  ago.     A  man 


93 

named  Cosgrove,  the  keeper  of  a  low  tavern  near  the  raih-oad  station, 
had  his  arm  broken  and  came  many  times  to  the  office  to  have  the 
dressings  arranged.  He  was  always  accompanied  by  a  large,  most 
ferocious  looking  bulldog,  that  watched  me  most  attentively,  and  most 
unpleasantly  to  me,  while  bandaging  his  master's  arm.  A  few  weeks 
after  Cosgrove's  case  was  discharged  I  heard  a  noise  at  the  office  door, 
as  if  some  animal  was  pawing  it,  and  on  opening  it  saw  there  this  huge 
bulldog,  accompanied  by  another  dog  that  held  up  one  of  its  front  legs, 
evidently  broken.  They  entered  the  office.  I  cut  several  pieces  of 
wood  and  fastened  them  firmly  to  the  leg  with  adhesive  plaster  after 
straightening  the  limb.  They  left  immediately.  The  dog  that  came 
with  Cosgrove's  dog  I  never  saw  before  or  since." 

These  remarkable  observations  on  canine  sagacity  by  a  distin- 
guished and  reliable  surgeon  lead  me  to  the  conclusion  that  if  the 
faithful,  courageous,  and  cheery  friend  of  man  could  be  heard  in  this 
controversy  his  answer  would  be  in  the  spirit  of  "self-sacrifice"  for 
the  benefit  of  the  human  race. 

In  conclusion  I  submit  a  further  statement  in  support  of  our  plea 
prepared  by  Dr.  Murray  Gait  Hotter,  formerly  professor  of  physiology, 
and  desire  to  emphasize  the  moral  aspect  of  the  question  as  presented 
by  Rev.  Father  Francis  A.  Tondorf,  at  present  professor  of  physiology 
in  our  medical  school.  The  Christian  virtues  and  human  sympathies 
of  both  of  these  men  are  well  recognized  in  this  community. 

Since  some  of  our  friends  have  questioned  whether  a  man  in  black 
cloth,  is  competent  to  speak  on  this  question,  I  may  say  that  it  is  not 
unusual  for  a  priest  to  be  engaged  in  the  scientific  study  of  medicine, 
for  Garrison,  in  his  History  of  Medicine,  tells  us  that  the  earliest  of 
the  microscopists  was  the  learned  Jesuit  priest,  A.  Kircher  (1602-80), 
who  was  at  once  a  mathematician,  physicist,  optician,  orientalist,  mu- 
sician, and  virtuoso,  as  well  as  a  medical  man,  and  who  was  probably 
the  first  to  employ  the  microscope  in  investigating  the  cause  of  disease. 
In  his  Scrutinium  Pestis  (Rome,  1658)  he  not  only  details  seven  experi- 
ments upon  the  nature  of  putrefaction,  showing  how  maggots  and  other 
living  creatures  are  developed  in  decaying  matter,  but  found  that  the 
blood  of  plague  patients  was  filled  with  a  countless  brood  of  worms 
not  perceptible  to  the  naked  eye,  but  to  be  seen  in  all  putrefying  matter 
through  the  microscope.  While  Kircher's  "worms"  could  not  have 
been  identical  with  the  Bacillus  pestis,  as  they  are  invisible  with  a  32- 
power  microscope,  yeti  it  is  quite  within  the  range  ol'  possibility  for 
him  to  have  seen  the  larger  microorganisms,  and  he  was  undoubtedly 
the  first  to  state  in  explicit  terms  the  doctrine  of  a  "contagium  anima- 
tum"  as  the  cause  of  infectious  disease. 


94 

A  PLEA  FOR  SANITY  IN  LEGISLATION  ON  ANIMAL  EX- 
PERIMENTATION (WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE 
TO  THE  DOG). 

By 

Murray  Galt  Motter,  M.  D. 

Formerly  Professor   of  Physiology    Georgetotvn    University  Medical 
School. 

No  scientist  worthy  the  name  would  for  a  moment  justify  or  tol- 
erate cruelty  (the  infliction  of  unnecessary  pain),  first,  because  his 
primary  objective  is  the  enlightenment  of  ignorance  and  the  relief  of 
distress ;  secondly,  because  the  infliction  of  unnecessary  pain  defeats 
both  the  method  and  the  object  of  his  investigation.  "It  is  the  right  of 
experiment  and  not  the  right  to  inflict  pain  for  which  plea  is  oflfered. 
Pain  is  an  irrelevant  factor  which  time  and  skill  are  in  process  of  elimi- 
nating altogether  from  surgical  operating  and  animal  experimentation." 

A  dark  and  ancient  blot  on  the  escutcheon  of  medical  art  has  been 
its  empiricism,  and  empiricism  today  is  synonymous  with  quackery 
and  charlatanism.  The  experience  of  the  ancient  empirics,  methodists, 
and  dogmatists  was  had  in  an  atmosphere  thick  with  the  fog  of  preju- 
dice and  ignorance,  which  prohibited  the  profanation  even  of  the 
cadaver  by  the  scalpel  of  the  anatomist.  The  physician  of  today  must 
study  not  merely  dead  tissue,  but  living  organisms,  and  as  from  the 
dawn  of  creation  the  lower  forms  of  life  have  contributed  to  the  welfare 
of  the  higher,  so  must  man  ever  draw  upon  the  lower  animals  for  the 
means -of  his  life,  health,  and  knowledge.  Only  througli  the  medium 
of  experimental  research  .may  medicine  be  raised  from  the  realm  of 
empiricism  to  that  of  exact  science. 

Salus  popuH,  suprema  lex.  If  by  law  the  method  and  means  are 
prohibited  by  which  the  health  of  the  people  can  alone  be  secured  and 
promoted,  not  alone  will  the  people  sufifer,  but  the  very  raison  d'etre  of 
the  guardians  of  the  people's  health  will  be  removed  and  their  incentive 
killed.  Why  establish  a  Public  Health  Service,  empower  it  under  the 
law  to  "study  and  investigate  the  diseases  of  man  and  conditions  in- 
fluencing the  propagation  and  spread  thereof,"  endow  it  with  h,uge 
funds  for  that  purpose,  and  then  by  subsequent  legislation  proscribe 
the  recognized  means  and  methods  of  pursuing  such  study  and  investi- 
gation ? 

Why  should  the  burden  of  proof  in  this  argument  be  thrust  upon 
the  medical  profession,  so  small  a  proportion  of  the  community  at  large, 
when  it  is  the  safety  of  the  latter  whichj  is  at  stake?  Recent  events 
and  current  costs  have  shown  that  greater  ease  and  higher  emoluments 
are  to  be  found  without  than  within  the  medical  profession.     Why 


95 

should  the  doctor  worry?  When,  by  reason  of  his  special  training 
and  experience,  this  work  is  assigned  to  the  biologist,  why  question  not 
only  his  judgment  but  even  his  motives  in  the  selection  of  the  instru- 
mentalities through  which  he  shall  render  this  service  to  humanity  ? 
Does  the  patient  or  his  family  dictate  to  the  surgeon  what  anesthetics 
or  antiseptics  he  shall  use,  how  he  shall  place  his  ligatures,  what  instru- 
ments and  procedures  are  necessary  in  a  capital  operation — because, 
forsooth,  these  questions  have  all  been  settled  by  animal  experimen- 
tation ? 

As  was  well  said  in  the  hearings  before  the  British  Parliament  on 
the  dogs  protection  bill  (happily  defeated  the  past  summer)  :  "This 
bill  is  a  test  case — not  for  the  dog  nor  the  medical  profession,  but  for 
the  intelligence  of  the  House  of  Commons."  and,  again,  "The  passage 
of  this  bill  must*  involve  an  unnecessary  continuation  of  pain,  disease, 
and  death  among  men,  women,  and  children,"  to  say  nothing  of  dogs. 
But  there  is  still  another,  reflex  influence  of  such  legislation,  which  must 
revert  to  the  detriment  of  the  public ;  if  the  spirit  of  research  be  thus 
ruthlessly  stifled  and  killed,  the  intellectual  standards  of  the  medical 
profession  must  suffer  and,  consequently,  the  power  and  efficiency  of 
the  medical  practitioner  be  impaired. 

To  come  more  specifically  to  the  matter  in  hand :  The  argument 
that  some  animal  other  than  the  dog  can  be  used  for  experimental  pur- 
poses is  wholly  unworthy  of  those  who  would  advance  it.  If  the  pur- 
pose of  antivivisection  legislation  is  the  protection  of  animals,  no  class 
distinctions  can  be  admitted,  but  to  be  thoroughly  consistent  these  ad- 
vocates must  at  once  and  forever  forego  all  animal  foods  and  become 
absolute  vegetarians.  Nay  more,  should  they  not  at  once  cease  in  any 
way  to  use  any  of  the  lower  animals  for  their  own  selfish  benefit  ? 

This  aside,  however,  the  dog  can  not  be  replaced  by  any  other  ani- 
mal in  the  research  laboratory  for  certain  kinds  of  experimental  work. 
Fishes,  frogs,  and  turtles,  birds  and  poultry,  mice,  rats,  guinea  pigs  and 
rabbits,  goats,  sheep,  pigs,  cows  and  horses,  monkeys  and  apes,  all 
have  their  uses,  and  are  used  in  experimental  biology  and  medicine,  but 
no  one  of  these  has  so  manifested  a  desire  for  the  companionship  and 
service  of  man  as  to  live  with  him  under  the  same  roof  and  partake 
of  the  food  from  his  table.  Similarity  of  environment  and  habit  are 
important  and  determining  factors  in  comparative  biology ;  moi"eover, 
availability,  size,  and  character  of  tissues  must  all  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration in  the  selection  of  the  proper  animal  for  experimental 
purposes. 

It  is  for  these  reasons  that  the  dog  has  been  an  especially  fruitful 
object  of  experimentation  in  the  study  of  the  functions  and  disorders 
of  the  digestive  system.  Not  every  surgeon,  such  as  William  Beau- 
mont, has  the  opportunity  of  making  direct,  experimental  observation 
upon  a  human  object,  such  as  Alexis  St.  Martin ;  and  the  difficulties 
entailed  in  bringing  the  human  subject  to  heel,  and  keeping  him  under 


96 

such  control  as  is  essential  for  accurate  results,  are  sufficiently  obvious. 
Recent  investigations  as  to  the  causes,  nature,  and  methods  of  preven- 
tion of  diabetes,  rickets  and  disorders  of  the  teeth  have  been  made 
possible  through  experimental  observations  on  the  dog ;  and  the  modern 
wonders  of  intestinal  surgery,  without  the  dog  as  a  medium,  would 
have  been  impossible. 

In  the  study  of  the  functions  and  disorders  of  the  heart  and  cir- 
culatory system,  the  dog  has  been  invaluable  and  irreplaceable.  Save 
for  the  aid  afforded  by  our  faithful  friend  and  servitor,  the  dog,  no 
surgeon  would  venture  to  suture  a  stab  wound  of  the  heart ;  and  many 
of  our  boys,  sore  wounded  on  the  battle  fields  "over  there,"  have  re- 
turned and  recovered  only  by  the  aid  of  the  dogs  used  in  the  develop- 
ment of  modern  vascular  surgery  and  the  technique  of  blood  transfu- 
sion. Was  this  service  any  more  dangerous  or  less  effective,  than  that 
rendered  by  the  military  dogs,  sent  through  the  hail  of  machine  gun 
fire  to  ferret  out  the  wounded  doughboy  in  no  man's  land  ?  Some 
of  the  survivors  of  the  latter  group  have,  with  universal  approval  and 
applause,  been  decorated  "for  distinguished  service,"  shall  we  deprive 
their  survivors  of  the  possibility  of  similar  distinguished  service. 

In  the  fevered  search  for  some  means  of  withstanding  the  hellish 
Hun  assaults  with  poisonous  gas,  it  was  tried  out  on  the  goat ;  but  the 
goat  proved  immune,  and  therefore  ineffective,  and  again  the  dog  came 
to  the  rescue  of  man  as  the  sacrificial  test  object.  Goats,  pasturing  in 
fields  submerged  with  poisonous  gas,  cropped  their  fill  unconcerned. 
Men,  sent  to  ascertain  which  was  at  fault,  goat  or  gas,  succumbed. 
The  dog  was  found  to  be  sufficiently  susceptible,  available,  and  effective 
in  the  experimental  researches  which  enabled  us  finally  to  outhun  the 
Hun  in  his  devilish  method  of  modern  warfare. 

Nor  has  the  dog  been,  always  and  solely,  the  sacrificial  victim. 
Through  the  study  of  the  dog  and  its  diseases,  by  exactly  the  same 
methods  and  with  exactly  the  same  motives,  experimental  pharmacol- 
ogy has  devised  and  used  the  means  of  curing  the  dog  of  a  distressing 
and  fatal  distemper. 

Many  dogs  have  been  awarded  medals  for  rescuing  human  beings 
from  drowning,  not  a  few  have  lost  their  lives  in  the  eft'ort,  and  their 
memory  has  been  perpetuated  in  stone  and  bronze.  Let  us  have  a  me- 
morial laboratory,  erected  to  the  honor  and  glory  of  the  dogs  which, 
shall  yield  their  lives  in  the  rescue  of  human  subjects  of  dropsy,  beings 
drowned  in  their  own  jtiices. 

The  problems  of  cerebral  localization  were  solved,  and  the  opera- 
tive procedures,  which  have  rescued  human  victims  of  brain  traumas 
and  tumors  and  restored  them  to  length  of  years  and  functional  activity, 
have  been  perfected  through  experimental  work  on  dogs.  The  antago- 
nism between  the  blood  serum  of  dogs  and  the  microbic  cause  of  tuber- 
culosis has  lead  to  some  interesting  and  helpful  results  in  the  fight 
against  the  great  white  plague.     The  deleterious  effects  of  alcohol  and 


97 

narcotics  upon  the  vital  economy  have  been  studied  on  dogs ;  and,  to- 
day, the  experimental,  laboratory  dog  bids  fair  to  rescue  unnumbered 
children  from  the  torments  of  tetany. 

It  is  just  because  the  dog  is  the  friend  of  man,  has  lived  in  the 
same  environment  and  on  much  the  same  food,  that  it  is  indispensable 
in  the  studies  which  shall  lead  to  the  alleviation  of  many  of  the  ills  to 
which  human  flesh  is  heir. 

If,  as  some  of  our  dogophile  friends  would  seem  to  imply,  we  are 
to  endow  the  dog  with  a  soul  and  higher  aspirations  for  service,  while 
we  pay  tribute  to  its  eminent  faithfulness  and  service  in  the  past,  can 
one  conceive  a  higher  ambition  for  the  superdog  of  the  future  than 
thus  to  continue  in  the  faithful  and  necessary  service  of  man,  by  stalk- 
ing and  balking,  the  grim  monsters  of  distress,  disease,  and  death? 


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Georgetown  university,  Washington, 

D.  G.   School  of  medicine, 
iLjri.ndication  of  viyisection.   - 


'I   '  /  (^~f'\^Ast'''^^€'nr^-^ 


V<y~ 


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